


the salacious ideas of peculiar boys

by scrupius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Awkward Sexual Situations, Both Albus and Scorpius are Legal in the UK, Community: hp_nextgen_fest, Consensual Underage Sex, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Smut, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, HP Next Gen Fest 2018, Harry Potter Next Generation, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Hogwarts Sixth Year, James Sirius Potter is a Good Sibling, M/M, More Fluff than Smut, Most of this Was Written on the Tube, Oblivious Albus Severus Potter, POV Alternating, Post-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, They're Both Dumb Teenage Boys, Unnecessarily Detailed Handjobs, references to other fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-09 06:58:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16445024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrupius/pseuds/scrupius
Summary: "You've wanked one another off," James asked and when Albus nodded 'yes' his brother went mental. "Friends don't wank one another off, Al," James half-shouted. "Merlin, you're an idiot."Albus and Scorpius have never been lacking on the idea front, but this time, rather than trying to change time and consequentially resurrecting a great darkness and eternal gloom, they've decided to try out something a little more...sexually experimental.alternatively titled: fellas, is it gay to jerk off your best friend?





	the salacious ideas of peculiar boys

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to Rosie for beta reading this story and Crocs for being the best cheerleader and having daily phone calls for hours on end with me that got me to write! (also the Yann/Polly is for Kat ;D such a babe)

“That’s so not fair, he didn’t even do anything!”

“I mean I wouldn’t say he’s done _nothing_ , it’s just tha-”

“Scorpius! You’re meant to be supporting me here.”

Scorpius turned his gaze from Karl Jenkins -who was being fawned over by about three separate girls- to his best friend, who was sulking into his left-over toast and marmalade, brows furrowed and mouth frowning.

“How exactly am I meant to be supporting you in this situation?” he asked.

“I don’t know, just,” Albus ran both his hands through his messy hair, causing part of it to stick up in a whole new array of directions, the rest of it flopping back over his forehead. “Tell me it’s just a joke, that he’s just been feeding those girls some of Uncle Ron’s love potions or something.”

Scorpius snorted into his goblet of pumpkin juice, flipping over a page of _The Daily Prophet_ with his other hand. “No way José, I’m not going to start casting aspersions like that. Besides, it’s not like he isn’t attractive.”

Albus raised his head from where he had started mumbling into his breakfast, face wrinkled in confusion. “Whad’ya mean by that?”

Scorpius lay the paper down on the table, the goblet too, before moving his arm so that he could rest his chin in his palm. He turned his eyes from the boy in front of him to the Hufflepuff at the table next to theirs who was still making flirty gestures to those around him.

“He’s got a nice face, and his accent is rather charming. His body is nice. His hair is shiny and… nice, and he has deep eyes which are quite-”

“-Nice?” Albus cut in, and when Scorpius turned back to him, he looked like an odd mix of amusement and confusion. He watched as Albus looked back and forth between the Hufflepuff and Scorpius, eyes squinting, and Scorpius had to consciously stop himself from adjusting his collar and shifting in his seat. Instead, he pulled his bag onto his shoulder in preparation to leave for classes, as many students had already left for their first period. “You like how he looks then?”

Scorpius couldn’t stop his entire body from jolting at the accusation, eyes wide, hands gripping the edge of the Slytherin table. “Wha- No! No, Albus, I definitely do not like Karl Jenkins. Merlin, no, he’s not- I just-” Scorpius shook his head, leg jittering up and down, and inhaled. “No, I don’t. He hasn’t really been the nicest to me, and he isn’t my type-”

Albus barked out a laugh as he grabbed his bag too. “Yeah, plus he’s a bloke so that kinda complicates things, and-”

Scorpius smiled grimly and released a huff of air through his nose, keeping his face downturned as the duo began their walk out of the Great Hall.

“Like you said, he’s such a bloody ponce, I’m never gonna understand how anyone can be so moony over someone like that.”

Scorpius shrugged in reply, but secretly couldn’t help agreeing. His most prominent memories of Karl were of the times he had been shoving him around, and no matter how attractive he was, that wasn’t going to change any time soon.

Albus pulled his bag higher onto his shoulder, casting a moody look to the doors of the Great Hall before the two of them began descending the stairs, towards the dungeons and their potions class. “It’s just not fair that they ignore his rubbish personality just because he’s got a nice face, or however you described it.”

Scorpius couldn’t help the amused sigh and consequential smile that raised the corners of his lips.

“If you want a girlfriend that badly you could actually try starting a conversation with one of them. You know, social interaction and all that. It’s not like you’re not attractive enough for it.”

Albus gave a snort and jumped down a few steps so that he could stare up at Scorpius. “You’re one to talk!” he exclaimed. “You haven’t even attempted to get a girlfriend since that botched attempt with Rose back in fourth year!”

Scorpius stopped short, rolling his eyes with a put-upon sigh, but the amused curl of his lips was what told Albus that nothing malicious was meant by it. “Yes I see your point, but the difference there is that you’ve been whining about your relationship status since we started sixth year, and it’s not even Christmas time yet.” Scorpius added to his point by pressing the tip of his pointer finger into Albus’ chest once he skipped down to walk next to his friend again. Albus grinned with a shake of his head, pushing Scorpius’ hand away as the two of them continued their trek to class.

“But still, it’s unfair.” Albus repeated. “They only started acting like that after the rumors of him and Polly Chapman went around early last year. It doesn’t even make any sense, it’s not like the rumor was even true!” That, Scorpius remembered, was a fact. It _did_ make Yann and Polly come forward about their own relationship though, consequently ending the Polly/Karl rumor, and starting the Karl/A Lot Of Girls situation.

“The illusion of experience, I suppose,” Scorpius reasoned as he shouldered open the door to Professor Buxton’s classroom, inhaling the sudden waxy burning smell that always filled the potions room. As he heard Albus step in after him, he was quick to locate an area where the two of them could work; an old desk near the back, not so far away that they couldn’t hear their professor, but not so close to the front that they would be risking getting a multitude of random things thrown at them (a common occurrence in their first year or two of Hogwarts, before they learnt their lesson and the other students calmed down with their teasings).

“Is that what I’m missing? Experience?” Albus asked as they settled into their seats. Scorpius paused as he pulled two textbooks out, but shook himself out of it quickly to pass one of them to Albus who, in return, grinned in relief, apparently unaware that he had forgotten it in the first place.

“I mean, maybe? I don’t know what experience you have, you don’t talk about that stuff much.”

“Yeah, because I barely have any! There’s Delphi, and that Ravenclaw girl last year-”

“Her name was Annie, honestly Albus!”

“But after that? Zilch, nada, none!”

“I’m pretty sure two people count as experience Albus.”

Albus groaned. “I know that! I wasn’t talking about experience like that, I meant, you know, the other kind.”

Scorpius tilted his head to the side in confusion. “No? What do you mean the other kind?”

Albus gave Scorpius a dead look before blinking and leaning closer. “The other kind, you know!” Albus sighed in frustration when Scorpius shook his head. “ _Sexual_ , Scorpius. I mean sexual experience!” he hissed under his breath.

Scorpius’ jaw dropped for a moment, and he could feel himself becoming heated at the mention of such a topic. He wondered briefly if his face looked as pink as it felt, and he looked back at his desk, awkwardly patting the cover of his book as a sort of nervous tick. “Oh.. I-I see..” he said, shuffling in his seat and clearing his throat with a few low coughs.

“Yeah, so just…” Albus took a sharp breath in and released it with a huff. “Don’t say I have experience when I’m the one who got lit up by Uncle George’s ‘Randy Radar’ over the summer…” he mumbled into his collar.

“Wait, what in the name of Merlin is a ‘Randy Radar’?” Scorpius asked, against his better judgement.

“It’s this dumb prank thing he came up with, apparently it was just a joke he thought of once that he thought was so hilarious he just _had_ to make a prototype for. My cousin Fred ended up getting a hold of it and thought it would be a great idea to bring it to that rubbish Sunday family dinner thing Grandma had a few times in the summer, and...” Albus trailed off like he was finished speaking, but Scorpius just stared at him in confusion, hoping it would prompt him to explain further. “Basically, it detects virgins who don’t want to be virgins ‘nd makes them light up. Stupid thing, I looked like a bloody Christmas tree,” Albus whispered to Scorpius, who apparently couldn’t not feel awkward when discussing such a topic.

“Oh, wow, that’s…”

“Yeah.”

“Merlin…”

“Yup.”

The two teenage boys sat awkwardly in their seats for a few moments, watching as classmates entered the dungeon classroom and took their seats, completely oblivious to the entirely new type of conversation happening between the two of them in the back corner of the room.

Scorpius sighed. “So,” Albus’ eyes snapped to his friend as soon as he heard him start to talk again. “Is, um, is that why you’ve been so… keen… on getting a girlfriend this year? You want, ‘e-experience’?” he stuttered out, and Albus watched as the pink that had been blushing his cheeks travelled to the tips of his ears and down his neck, turning him pale and red at the same time.

“I mean, I guess so,” he muttered. “I just want to, _you know_.” Albus stuttered. Scorpius was very quick to nod along this time. “And that just seems like the best way. Not that I’d only want to date someone for sex, I’d want the relationship side too. I don’t know, maybe I’m being stupid-”

“No, you’re not- stupid. If anything I’d say it’s admirable that you’re looking to harbour a real emotional bond with someone in that way. But you’ll find someone, I know you will.” Scorpius turned to Albus with an odd self-deprecating grin. “How could anyone resist your charms?”

Albus gave what looked like a reluctant smile and turned a bit pink. “Thanks, but I’m pretty sure you’re all the emotional bond I need,” he murmured, crooked smile, eyes teasing, and Scorpius almost choked on his own breath. He was quick to turn away with he noticed Professor Buxton entering the room from her office, a clear indication that the lesson was soon to start. From the corner of his eye he could see Albus do the same, reaching down for his bag so that he could get his roll of parchment, ink and quill out.

“Although, maybe it would be easier for me if I actually did make a few more bonds, then I might actually lose my virginity before I graduate,” Albus muttered with a sulking sigh, unthinking.

Scorpius wasn’t sure exactly what it was in Albus’ words that made his heart freeze, but he couldn’t deny the painful chill they gave him. It reminded him of back in fourth year, when he was watching Albus and Delphi get closer and closer, constantly watching from the outskirts as his friend got further and further away from him with each second he spent with the girl. He knew now, of course, that there was more to that situation than either of them knew at the time, that Delphi had been the ultimate manipulator, but at the time it had seemed like it was all going wrong in a completely different way, that Albus and Delphi were forming some sort of kinship that should have been between Albus and _Scorpius_. Only now, it was stifling to Scorpius. It made him feel sick with despair in a way he hated, because he didn’t want to be someone that held Albus back from making more friends, Merlin knew they could use some, but it hurt, the thought of Albus smiling and laughing with someone else, always joking and touching, adjusting someone else’s collars or holding their waists or doing _more-_

“Y-You could just make use of the bond you have already,” Scorpius squeaked out.

Albus turned to look at him so quickly Scorpius was surprised he didn’t hurt himself. “Make use? What do you mean by that?” The intensity of Albus’ staring was making Scorpius want to shrink down until he could hide away between the pages of his potions book.

“Just, well, you know. You want to, _you know_ , and I’m here if you… want to… with our bond...” Scorpius trailed off, voice embarrassingly high pitched and shaky when he realised just how ridiculous he was being. What even was he doing? What was he suggesting?!

Scorpius turned to the front of the room, where the professor had started writing out today’s lesson plan on the blackboard. From the edge of his vision he could see Albus frozen next to him, staring with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. Scorpius desperately wanted to make a joke like he normally would, something about how he would end up catching lacewing flies if he didn’t stop, but there was no way he was letting himself speak a word until the entire situation was forgotten about, and they were completely ignoring the fact that Scorpius had offered himself for Albus to, well, you know.

“Scorpius, what-” Scorpius’ heart nearly leaped out his chest when he heard Albus begin to speak in a low voice. Fortunately, fate seemed to be sparing Scorpius in that moment as Professor Buxton turned to the class with a dramatic sweep of her robes, smokey eyes staring out into young students’ faces, causing Albus to stop in fear of catching her gaze. Scorpius watched as she took a moment to register each face in her mind, something she had done every lesson ever since she joined the Hogwarts school faculty. Scorpius wasn’t sure if it was something she just did herself or if she just wanted to keep track of her students, which would be understandable considering who her students are, but either way it never failed to make Scorpius suddenly feel very tense and self conscious. Except for today, that is, he had already managed to enter into that state all by himself.

“Today, we will be tackling the Elixir to Induce Euphoria. Hopefully I won’t have to explain what this does, given it’s self-explanatory name, but just in case, you can find its effects on page four-hundred and twenty-nine of your textbooks, along with all the information you will need to help you brew such a draught. You may pair with your seatmates if you please, but rest assured that I won’t hesitate to punish those who put their socialisation above their education in this lesson.” Scorpius watched as she waved an arm in front of her blackboard. “If you have any questions, you will likely find the answer here. If you can’t, well then it’s likely not something you need to know for today’s class. Now, begin!” Professor Buxton pulled out a stack of papers, seemingly from mid-air, as she sat behind her dark wooden desk. Scorpius could hear the students around him start ready-ing their equipment or move to collect ingredients from the storage cupboard and was quick to leap up and do the same.

“I’ll get the ingredients, be right back!” he called quickly as he started speeding towards the other side of the classroom. He heard Albus inhale as if to say something in reply, but was then too far away to hear him if he said anything at all.

Once he was safely within the dim confines of the storage cupboard, only a few students milling around him, ignoring him, he felt it safe to lean his forehead against one of the shelves to try and cool him burning face.

_‘What is wrong with you? Of all the things to suggest!’_

Scorpius wanted to smack himself, or scream himself silly, but he was pretty sure those weren’t things he could get away with in the middle of a potions lesson with the smokey eyed and sharp tempered potions professor.

Even with the freedom to work together, it turned out that neither of the two boys had any desire to speak to each other for the duration of class, except for a few necessary requests like ‘could you pass that’ or ‘can you chop this’. The only thing Scorpius noticed was that Albus couldn’t seem to stop staring at him for more than a few seconds, and was very glad that Albus was talented enough at potions that he could work with a less than optimal amount of attention. Other than that, it was like Scorpius and Albus had never been friends at all, especially when you compared them to the paired off chums around them, loudly chatting and barely working at all. It was only when Scorpius had a vial in one hand and a ladle in the other, and was proceeding to bottle their perfectly brewed golden potion, that Albus moved closer to him and rested a hand on Scorpius’ bicep. The sudden feeling of his friend’s hand on him caused Scorpius to jolt, elixir jumping out of the ladle at the sudden movement and spilling over onto his hand.

“Shit! Sorry, hang on,” Albus exclaimed, moving to grab a scrap of cloth as Scorpius put the equipment down. He was quick to return and immediately start wiping at the potion coating Scorpius’s hands.

“Did you..” Albus began. Scorpius look up to Albus’ face, which was resolutely turned down, remaining fixed on their hands and where he was apparently determined to clean up the spillage. He was quite pink, eyebrows furrowed as he cleared his throat. “Did you mean it? What you… said, what you offered?”

Scorpius was frozen still, shocked that Albus - king of avoidance and brooding- so willingly started talking about Scorpius’ offer again. It only occurred to him that he should probably respond when Albus had turned his gaze from their hands, now clean and just awkwardly laced together, to Scorpius’ own face, green eyes staring with an odd amount of intensity.

“I- yes. Yes, I did. You’re my… Well, you’re Albus, of course I meant it,” he breathed out. Scorpius was incredibly glad that half the class had left, having finished or given up with their potion, the rest of their classmates focusing too hard on their own work to notice the scene of Scorpius and Albus holding hands in a far corner of the room. He knew that there were plenty of rumors about the two of them, there were an abundance of rumors about everyone in a school as talkative as Hogwarts, and they would only be given increased credence if the two of them were spotted like this.

“Oh, you did. Oh. Fucking h-” Scorpius watched as Albus cut himself off with a deep inhale, head ducked down to face the floor. He felt Albus’ grip on his hands get tighter, but before either of them could speak they were approached by Professor Buxton, who was peering at them curiously.

“May I ask what exactly you two are doing over here? You don’t have long until the lesson ends, as I’m sure you’re both aware.”

“Oh! Yes!” Scorpius sprung away from Albus, the intense, tight feeling in his chest evaporating just like whatever moment was happening between the two of them. “We just- um. Well, there was a bit of an accident, but we’ve taken care of it! Actually- we actually finished our work, so…” Scorpius stepped closer to their work space and picked up another vial that wasn’t coated in the elixir, and watched as the professor peered into their cauldron, stirring it with the ladle. Scorpius noticed her eyebrows quirk up and her lips smile with satisfaction as the potion emitted rainbow fumes, and he turned back to Albus. Rather than paying attention to their teacher, he had apparently been staring at the back of Scorpius’ head, as he accidentally met his eyes again when Scorpius faced his friend. He almost wanted to say something, ask what was wrong, but his attention was grabbed by the voice of Professor Buxton.

“Congratulations boys, I have to say I’m rather impressed. This is not an easy elixir to brew and yet I can see no flaws. If anything, the scent of peppermint allows me to see that the two of you have even surpassed any expectations I previously held of you both.” She faced the two of them with a kind, proud smile. “Keep this up and I can see you both with O’s in your future.”

Scorpius’ face broke out into a happy, wide grin, and he gave a light, overjoyed giggle at the words as she stepped away. When he turned back to Albus he could see a similar, if not more tame, grin on his face.

“What a way to start the day!” he happily called to Albus as he grabbed the ladle and began finally filling a handful of vials with it, corking it promptly. Technically they only needed to hand one in, but Scorpius saw no point in wasting such a successful achievement. Who knew, maybe Madam Pomfrey was running low! And if not, then they could probably find some sort of use for them.

“You’ve got Advanced Arithmancy next, right?” he heard Albus murmur to him.

Scorpius patted his bag that sat on his seat which contained the two textbooks he would need for that class. “Yep! Triple!” he confirmed, earning a groan from Albus.

“Merlin, Scorp, I’m never going to understand how you can enjoy that. It’s so boring!”

“Not to me it’s not. Besides, you only did it at O.W.L level, and once you get to N.E.W.T level it actually becomes more like a social event than a class so it’s rather fun.” Scorpius grinned.

“There were so many things wrong with that sentence,” Albus gave Scorpius a wry smile as he waved his wand, murmuring a scourgify under his breath to clean out their cauldron, before they started packing the equipment away.

“You know what I mean. There aren’t many of us there, and those of us that are there are taking it because we genuinely enjoy it. You may not have thought it possible to like something you’d never really considered fun, but a little shared passion and it becomes quite the pleasant experience.” Scorpius turned to Albus with a smile, but only got one of his sarcastic, exaggerated smile/nod combo in reply, which Scorpius knew meant that no, he didn’t get it, but he would go along with it for Scorpius’ sake. It was something that Scorpius appreciated, especially in that moment, as they shared amused smiles while they made their way out of the classroom.

“I’ll probably see you later then. At dinner?” Albus asked.

Scorpius nodded with a smile. “Absolutely! Save me a seat?”

Albus rolled his eyes with a quiet scoff. “Obviously, you nerd.”

Scorpius couldn’t help returning the grin and wave Albus shot his way before turning to make his way up the moving staircase, Albus walking to the Slytherin dormitories. While his classroom was in a whole different tower of the castle, Albus had a free period before double Care of Magical Creatures, and their paths weren’t likely to cross for the rest of the day either.

-

Surprisingly to Scorpius, their odd little deal didn’t even come up at dinner. While they were piling their plates and Albus ate his weight in treacle tart, the only thing that came up was their lacking social life and the usual gossip. Thea Jordan was still trying to get Albus to try out for the Slytherin quidditch team, and she had become more determined than ever now that it was their second-to-last year at Hogwarts. Professor Longbottom was wanting to start up a new club, something about unity and non-judgement (which Scorpius thought sounded rather fantastic), while Polly Chapman and Yann Fredericks had been caught by Headmistress McGonagall behind one of the tapestries in a less-than-appropriate position. In general it was a rather mundane day, and Scorpius couldn’t help but wonder if Albus would even be taking him up on his spontaneous and uncharacteristic offer, despite the interest he seemed to have shown earlier that morning.

Later that night, when Scorpius was sat up in his bed, reading with a _lumos_ lighting up the tip of his wand and the incident being the furthest thing from his mind, he was hit with the realisation of what exactly he had offered. This came in the form of one Albus Severus Potter pulling back his bed curtains and peering in with hesitant eyes.

“Scorpius?” he whispered. Scorpius stared at Albus for a moment, taking in his rumbled appearance. His creased pyjama bottoms and the hair flat on one side of his head indicated that he had actually been lying in his bed, but his eyes were far too bright, motions far too fluid for someone who had just woken up.

“Couldn’t sleep either?” Scorpius asked with an empathetic smile, getting a single nod in response. A part of Scorpius was surprised, a larger part actually concerned. After all, Scorpius was the one who tended to sleep less out of the two, whether that be from staying up late reading or general anxieties not leaving him alone. “Anything in particular keeping you awake?” he asked, shuffling to the side so that Albus could sit on the edge of his bed. He watched as his friend did so, before closing the bed hangings around the two of them to give them a sense of privacy.

“I just… Well, I was hoping -if you’re okay with it- that we could maybe...” Scorpius watched Albus ruffle his dark hair. “I was hoping we could maybe try out that… idea? That you had, back in potions class?”

Scorpius let the book fall to the side mindlessly, the only thing echoing in his mind being ‘ _Oh Merlin, oh Merlin, oh Merlin’._

“It’s okay if you don't want to!” Albus said quickly, reading the wide eyed expression on Scorpius’ face. “We totally don’t need to, I was just thinking that we could-”

“Okay!”

Scorpius wanted to cringe away at the lack of subtlety his overly enthusiastic reply contained. Luckily Albus clearly didn’t feel the same way, if his relieved smile was anything to go by.

“Great, that’s- yeah.” Scorpius swallowed as Albus shuffled near to him, leaning closer in such a nonchalant manner that he had to wonder if Albus even remembered what the idea was, and how he could act like it wasn’t affecting him the same way it was affecting Scorpius. “Honestly I can’t tell you how glad I am for this Scorp, you have no idea how much this takes the pressure off. Afterall, you’re my best mate, you’re hardly gonna make fun of me if I’m not the best straight away.”

Scorpius smiled and nodded. “That’s what friends are for, I suppose,” he responded, trying his best to hide the slightly bitter tone in his voice. Judging by the grin Albus gave, he did it rather well.

“We should probably, um, lie down? Yes… Yes, we should lie down,” Scorpius decided, and was almost shocked by how easily Albus nodded and went along with it. When he had settled down himself, book discarded on the floor next to his bed, a quick silencing charm placed around them, he stared at Albus’ tan face, green eyes staring back at him.

“What now?”

“Well I suppose we just-” Scorpius stopped himself for a moment. “Albus, do you know how… sex between two guys works?”

Albus’ face went very blank all of a sudden, before his eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. “Well… I haven’t looked into it. I figured it was just the same as with a girl, right?”

Scorpius wanted to groan. “No, Albus. Just in case you were unaware, you and I both have p-penises, whereas girls tend to have… vaginas. I mean, there are excep-”

“Okay, okay, I don’t need a lecture!” Albus held a palm in front of Scorpius. “Of course I knew that you tosser, I just figured we wouldn’t be starting with that, that we could, well-”

“...What?” Scorpius asked, sensing Albus’ hesitation.

“Handjobs, Scorp, I’m talking about wanking each other other off! To start.”

Scorpius was oh-so-glad he had cast that silencio.

“I thought that maybe that would be the best way to start, after all it’s not like either of us have the right stuff we’d need to _actually_ have sex- right?” Scorpius was quick to give a hurried nod to Albus’ question. “Okay then. So, I was thinking- _Woah_ , what are you doing?!”

Scorpius looked back up to Albus’ face and away from his crotch, where Scorpius’ hands were. One hand was tugging at the waistband of Albus’ pyjama trousers, the other half way inside the item of clothing, fingers brushing up against his underwear and already feeling the intense body heat emitting from his friend.

Scorpius started to internally panic. Albus was stopping him, was something wrong? Had Scorpius screwed up already, had Albus realised that the idea of Scorpius jerking him off was more repulsive that pleasant?

“I was-... I thought you wanted me to t-touch you. If you’re okay with that, that is. After all you’re entitled to say no, and I would-”

“Woah, hey, Scorpius, slow down.”

Scorpius forced himself quiet, lips closed tightly and hands retreating away from Albus’ nether regions.

“Not like- whatever. I just thought maybe you’d want to, I don’t know, _both_ get off. Get each other off, that is. If you wanted.”

Scorpius almost surprised himself with his response. “No thanks.”

Albus’ eyebrows raised. “Oh, er, okay then. Are you sure?”

“Yes, I-” Scorpius nodded. “You said you wanted experience, and while I can’t deny l-liking the thought, of feeling that type of thing I mean, this is about you.”

“Oh… Well, thanks I guess.” Albus replied. “Are you sure?”

Scorpius nodded. “Absolutely. Besides, if I really need to then I can, uh, _take care_ of it myself afterwards.”

The side of Albus’ mouth quirked up in a slight grin. “Or I could.”

Scorpius felt his entire body heat up, chest tightening and heart pounding almost audibly at that point. Curse Albus Potter and his stupidly flirty banter, it wasn’t the first time that Scorpius was sure it would be the end of him.

With an oddly renewed set of confidence, Scorpius settled his hands back to where they had been before, back to the waistband of Albus’ trousers. As he tugged at it, another pair of hands joined his own.

“Might be easier if I just…” Albus’ murmur trailed off as he began to tug his pyjama bottoms off, pulling his underwear away with them as he did.

Scorpius felt his breath catch in his throat at the sudden sight of Albus’ cock, mouth dry and palms suddenly damp with sweat. He wasn’t really sure what he had expected. Despite living together for over five years now, he had never actually seen Albus stark naked, and while he couldn’t deny _never_ thinking of what Albus might look like naked (especially within the last few years), he had also never theorised in great detail about what Albus would look like… down _there_.

While his point of reference was limited, Scorpius supposed it was rather nice-looking for a penis. It was thick and long, uncut, and Albus’ naturally darker skin transitioned easily into a plum-hue at the head. The tip had a small bead of pre-cum lingering, and Scorpius reached forward with his hand to touch, smearing it over the head of his cock. When he heard a choked noise from his friend, Scorpius felt like he was returning from some sort of daze as he raised his eyes. Albus, like him, was staring down at Scorpius’ hand, where one finger was hovering, fingertip smeared with precum. His cheeks were flushed, and Scorpius could see the rosy colour was starting to move down his neck. A large part of Scorpius wished Albus had taken off his shirt too, just so that he could see how much further it travelled down.

“Maybe you should… um..”

Scorpius paused any motion when he heard Albus speak.

“Maybe you should use the lube charm. I mean, if you know it.”

Scorpius nodded his head and reached behind him. He was pretty sure if it were at all possible, his blush would’ve tripled at what he’d just inadvertently admitted. He felt blindly at the side of his bed, trying to catch where he had shoved his wand under his mattress, and pulled it out after a few moments of awkward fumbling.

“ _Factis oleoque._ ” Scorpius muttered, waving his wand into his own hand. When he felt the slick feeling coating his palm, Scorpius rubbed his fingers together just for a moment to make sure it was enough, before turning and dropping his wand off the side of his bed uncaringly. When he turned back to face his friend, he watched as Albus shuffled himself closer. Scorpius did the same, but carefully kept in mind the hand that was covered in lubricant.

“Okay…” Scorpius mumbled to himself, voice barely a whisper as he settled opposite Albus. With a surge of courage, he reached forward to loosely wrap his hand around Albus’ cock. He heard Albus inhale sharply before he started to loosely move his hand up and down. It was an odd angle, and he didn’t know what Albus liked, so he figured he could build up to it. If the way Albus’ cock was quickly hardening told him anything, he was probably doing okay.

“Fuh-.. Scorp, could you,” Scorpius looked up to Albus’ face to see his eyes clenched shut, mouth hanging open. “Could- tighter, please… more.”

Scorpius felt saliva pooling in his mouth as he heard Albus’ words, his requests. He was quick to follow them, clenching his hand tighter around his penis and increasing the speed of his jerks. The odd angle had Scorpius’ arm aching slightly, but it was nothing he wasn’t used to from his years of being a teenage boy, so it was easy enough to keep going. He felt Albus curl into him, and could feel his wayward hair brushing against his bicep as he moved closer.

“Fu-uck…” Albus groaned out, panting hard. Scorpius could feel the heated breaths blowing over his torso, tracing up his shoulder and tickling his neck. There was no point in denying just how affected by all of this he was. He felt like he could pass out by how hot he felt, and he was surprised how he was able to keep thinking clearly, considering it felt like all of the blood in his body had rushed south and away from where his brain needed it.

It didn’t take long for the two boys to get into a slight rocking motion, all the focus on Scorpius’ hand, and where it was stroking over Albus’ cock again and again, twisting slightly nearer the head in a way that Albus apparently really liked. Albus couldn’t help the thrusting motion of his hips at each tug Scorpius gave him, panting and groaning into the miniscule space between them.

“I do- Fuck, I think I’m gonna co-ome, fuck Scorp…” he panted out, voice just barely muffled by the tight feeling in his throat. He felt like he could explode or scream or both, the intense waves of pleasure pulsing through him. He could hear himself sounding out short muffled moans, curling in even closer to Scorpius as he reached his climax. “Scor- ah, fuu-” He cut himself off with a choked noise, eyes screwed tightly shut.

Scorpius was almost surprised by it, the sticky white strings that shot from Albus’ cock and on to both of their nightshirts, as well as the bedding beneath them. He would’ve maybe reacted more strongly, if it weren’t for his own climax that had been slowly building for a while, unprompted. He bit at his bottom lip to try and stop himself from being too loud, but a few needy moans sounded from his chest while he felt the inside of his underwear become wet and sticky with his own release.

They lay there for a few moments after Scorpius took his hand back, chests heaving while they waited for their breathing to even out a bit more and, slowly, Albus moved away from him, uncurling his body from where it had tensed up against his own. His eyes were still closed, and he looked incredibly relaxed, more so than any other time Scorpius had seen. He stared until Albus opened his eyes.

“That was…” he started, before releasing a sigh and closing his eyes again with a lazy grin.

“...Good? Okay? Te-!”

Albus was quick to cut Scorpius off by reaching out and patting his fingers on Scorpius’ chest.

“Yes.” he made an odd chuckling noise. “Yeah, it was _very good._ ”

Scorpius could relax a bit more with the reassurance Albus gave him, so he settled into the bed with a smile and a nod. “Okay, that’s good. I mean- Yes. I’m glad.” He spoke quietly. He winced when he clenched his hand and he felt Albus’ come and the left over lubrication covering his hand. He heard Albus make that odd laughing noise again as he leant over the side of his bed, using his clean(er) hand to find his wand in the darkness of the dormitory. He made a quick pleased noise when he located it, before turning back and waving his wand a few times accompanied by a few quiet castings of _‘scourgify’ _,__ over his hand, the bed and both of their shirts, and quickly over his own crotch. When he had returned his wand back to its proper location tucked under his bed, he felt Albus shifting. Scorpius looked to see Albus had pulled his underwear back on, but not bothered with his trousers.

“You turn then?” he asked, and Scorpius watched as Albus reached forward to Scorpius’ trousers the same way Scorpius had done to him earlier.

“Oh! Well, actually I-” Scorpius caught Albus’ hands. “I sort of already, uh…”

Albus’ eyebrows rose up in surprise. “Woah, really? Just from-?” Albus stopped when Scorpius nodded. “Blimey,” he sighed out.

Scorpius grinned self-deprecatingly as the two of them lay there, Albus starting to nod off. He wasn’t really sure what to say now, or what he was meant to do. He was pretty sure there was some kind of protocol for this type of thing, but he very much doubted it fitted his and Albus’ relationship, and if it did?

The thought of staying curled up on his bed with Albus had a warm, soft feeling filling his chest, sending nerves shooting through Scorpius’ body, muscles twitching. It had his heart pounding and making him feel slightly nauseous, but the alternative was so much worse. Albus leaving him to go back to his own bed made a lot more sense, if Scorpius were to look at the situation objectively, but the thought of Albus leaving him was terrifyingly depressing. He should be okay with it, no matter what Albus decided to do, it shouldn’t affect him like this.

“Hey, d’you think it’d be okay if I stayed ‘ere tonight?” Albus asked with a slurry, sleepy voice. “S’okay if not, I just don’t wanna have to-” Scorpius cut Albus off suddenly.

“Yes of course! I mean,” Scorpius quieted his tone down to a whisper. “Yes, you’re more than welcome to stay.” He smiled when Albus opened his eyes to look at him, watching whilst Albus wriggled for a moment to get comfortable in Scorpius’ bed.

“Brilliant.” Albus sighed. Scorpius agreed, he really did, but he also couldn’t stop a familiar phrase from whirling around in his brain.

‘ _Oh Merlin, oh Merlin, oh Merlin…_ ’

 

__-_ _

__

When Albus woke up the following morning, it wasn’t that hard to remember where he was or what had happened. No, he knew he was in the Slytherin dormitory, where every bed was a duplicate of the next one, and he knew he was in Scorpius’ because he had a fluffy mess of white-blonde hair tucked against his chest. It also wasn’t hard to remember what happened, because he was still missing his trousers, and for as many times as the two of them may have accidentally fallen asleep together in the past, they’d always been fully clothed.

“Shi-it” he whispered to himself, as he tried to turn and find the pyjama bottoms without awakening his friend too much. It turned out to be an unsuccessful quest when, as soon as he twisted his chest to the side, Scorpius jolted awake at the feeling of his pillow moving away.

“Wuh- Alb’s? What?” Scorpius asked, words slurred by sleep.

“Hey no, shh, go back to sleep. I was just getting my-” Albus motion to the bed curtain, where he thrown his checked trousers out the previous night.

Unfortunately this only seemed to wake Scorpius up more as he sat up, duvet pooling in his lap as he stared.

“Oh. R-right.”

Albus frowned. “You okay mate?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Scorpius nodded with a smile, but Albus wasn’t satisfied, tilting his head closer.

“You sure?”

Scorpius nodded again, moving the duvet off his lap.

“Thanks for last night by the way,” Albus said, and felt like hitting himself with his own stupidity.

“What?” Scorpius looked at him, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

Albus sighed. In for a sickle in for a knut. “Last night, you know? When you-” he made an inappropriate motion with his hand. “I liked it, so yeah. Thanks.”

Albus could barely look at Scorpius he felt so awkward, eyes flickering from side to side with his lips pursed. It was horribly silent for a minute, Albus feeling stupid, like he shouldn’t have brought it up at all, but those thoughts were quickly halted by the sounds of Scorpius starting to laugh. Albus stared at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but he couldn’t help the reflex to smile back at his laughing friend.

“Sorry! Sorry, I -oh Merlin. It’s just that, luckily my silencing charm seems to have kept up through the night, but can you imagine the reaction we’d get from the others!” Albus watched as Scorpius cracked up laughing again, unable to help the smile and shrug as he laughed along with him, albeit less enthusiastically. He was pretty sure Scorpius didn’t actually find it that funny and that most of his laughter was coming from a place of self-deprecating awkwardness, that’s what Scorpius tended to do sometimes after all, but if it helped him feel better, then Albus was one hundred percent ready to go along with it.

_“Well while you’re laughing your arse off, I’m going to get in the shower.” Albus ducked his head out of the bed hangings and saw that the other boys must still be asleep, considering theirs were all still closed as well. He stood, but ducked his head back into Scorpius’ bed to give him a wave which was enthusiastically returned, before creeping over to his own bed to grab his stuff and head into the bathroom. The other guys might still be sleeping, but he wanted to be careful, just incase. After all, they didn’t need more flames to be added to the fire that was the consistent rumor about their questionable relationship._

_Much to Albus’ surprise, they were able to slot back into their usual roles rather easily together. That morning, while he was getting dressed into his uniform, he had briefly wondered if taking Scorpius up on his offer had been a huge mistake. He didn’t like to talk about it or even admit it, but he was scared that he was going to lose Scorpius, that they had crossed some line that meant they could never go back to what they once were. And he had liked what they were. They were friends, best friends, and it meant the world to him. But he supposed that was a dumb thought to have, especially since they had gone through hell together already (twice, in Scorpius’ case), and that was proven to be correct when, after waiting in the Slytherin common room for Scorpius to turn up for breakfast, he spotted the blond boy hopping down the steps in his usual perky manner._

_“You ready?” he asked, and was glad to see Scorpius smiling like he normally would, nodding along. “C’mon then,” he said before the two of them moved to leave their common room, and head towards the Great Hall._

_He supposed it was a pretty perfect scenario. He’d gotten what he’d been whining about (though, did handjobs count as sex?), he’d gotten to do it with the person he cared about most in the world, and their friendship wasn’t completely ruined by the fact that Scorpius had touched his dick! Fantastic!_

 

_-_

 

So why was he stupid enough, arrogant enough, to pull Scorpius behind the tapestries one afternoon a few days later? Merlin, it was like the time turners all over again.

“Oh, hi Albus!” Scorpius gave one of his usual smiles, raising his hand in a dorky half-wave. “What’s wrong? Why are we in here?”

“Nothing’s wrong per say, I was just thinking,” Albus rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Just _ _remembering__ that I never actually got to return the favour. And I don’t like that."

Albus watched as Scorpius gave an oblivious tilt of head, eyes curious, before he blinked and suddenly his eyes were wide in surprise. “O-oh…” he murmured, glancing to the side and starting to fidget on the spot.

“If you don’t want me to, that’s fine, I would never force you like that, but I just figured that it was about time that I, _ _you know.__ ” Albus made the crude gesture known for meaning ‘jerking off’.

“You want to… I mean.” He watched as Scorpius tugged on the sleeves of his robes.

“Is that okay?”

“I-” Scorpius stuttered out. “Yes, I suppose so. If you really want to, that is.”

Albus didn’t really know how to respond to that. Yeah, he wanted to make Scorpius feel good the same way he had done for him, but saying he ‘really wanted to’ sounded a bit… desperate. Instead, Albus stepped forward, making Scorpius step back until his spine was against the stone wall, and reached for Scorpius’ belt buckle. He could hear Scorpius’ breath catch as he began to undo it, pulling the clinking metal ends apart and out of the way.

“You good?” he whispered to Scorpius, who replied with some very hurried nodding, blond hair falling over his forehead in a way that made Albus want to push it back. He was quick to rid of these thoughts by distracting himself with undoing Scorpius’ trousers. When he was able to slip his hand into Scorpius’ trousers, he could feel the heat of Scorpius’ skin intensified by a thousand. He pressed his hand against where he could feel the outline of his cock, and almost smiled when he heard Scorpius’ whimper. It was weirdly satisfying, being able to actually hear how he was affecting his friend.

“Albus, are you-” Scorpius sighed out, but quickly stopped with a choking noise when he felt Albus suddenly move his underwear aside with his thumb, and grasp Scorpius’ cock in his palm. Albus raised his eyebrows teasingly, as if daring Scorpius to continue as he began to stroke him up, and down. He’d thought he’d need to use the lube charm, but Scorpius’ cock was smeared with enough pre-cum that it would have been an unnecessary hassle.

“Al- _ _oh _Merlin___ , Albus-” Scorpius panted. His body was tucked against Albus’, hands clenched in his friend’s robes in an attempt to keep himself stable. Albus could feel Scorpius’ frame quivering against his, and he looked to be making good use of the wall behind him to keep himself standing.

When Albus had felt Scorpius’ hand grasp his bicep, he in turn held on to Scorpius’ forearm with his free hand, moving closer so that Scorpius could duck and rest his forehead against Albus’ collar, luckily still far away enough that he wouldn’t be able to feel Albus’ own gradually hardening cock. He remembered how intense and shaky he had felt the first time someone else, Scorpius, wanked him off, and there was a certain sense of pride he felt while witnessing Scorpius fall apart in his hands. Literally.

“O-oh Albu-us, I’m going to- I think-!” Albus tightened his grip on Scorpius’ cock the smallest amount, rubbing his thumb over the head when he heard Scorpius stutter out his warning. He kept up with his stroking as Scorpius orgasmed, high-pitched keening moans sounding from his flushed face as his body tensed and shuddered with the wave of his climax.

“Hey, Scorp?” he whispered a minute later, watching as Scorpius raised his head from where it was turned down to look at him. “You okay?” he asked.

Scorpius nodded slowly, clearing his throat. “Yeah, I’m good,” he replied quietly, slowly. Albus watched as he grabbed his wand from the long pocket at the side of his trousers and pulled it out, casting a quiet cleaning charm to get rid of spunk that had splattered over both their robes. Albus had been so focused on Scorpius when he was coming, he’d barely noticed the mess.

“Do you need-” Albus started, but was quick to stop when he heard familiar click-clacking coming down the corridor, towards the tapestry that they were tucked behind.

McGonagall.

Albus panicked, brain spinning into overdrive as the footsteps got louder with each passing second. He probably would have done something stupid, like pull Scorpius out of the confines of the alcove and try to run only to get caught as soon as McGonagall saw them, if it weren’t for Scorpius, who had regained his grip on Albus’ arm. Albus looked at him, and noticed that he had tucked himself away and had even done his trousers up, but was keeping both ends of the belt buckle firmly in his other hand to stop them from hitting each other and making noise. _‘Smart’_ _, he couldn’t help but think as Scorpius leaned into him._

“Stay incredibly still,” Scorpius whispered, if it could be called that at all. It was more like he was mouthing the words with exaggerated mouthing, the slightest sounds barely slipping out.

Albus followed Scorpius’ advice and stayed as still and silent as he could. Honestly he felt more like a moron than ever. Just the other day Yann and Polly had been caught in the corridor, and yet he’d somehow thought that was the best place to corner Scorpius and toss him off!

“Okay, I think she’s gone…” Scorpius whispered, bringing Albus back to the startling reality that was Scorpius, holding on to him with his belt undone. If anyone had told him his sixth year was going to be like this, he’d’ve laughed and shoved it off, and yet, here he was.

“Do you think they’re still serving dinner? I really fancy something sweet,” Scorpius sighed with a smile as he redid his buckle, apparently fine with leaving the situation as it was. Albus couldn’t help feeling really quite thankful.

“You always fancy something sweet.”

“Oh, don’t act like you never eat half it anyway.”

 

__-_ _

__

Albus was a genius. Or rather, Scorpius was the genius who suggested the idea, but Albus had never felt so bloody glad that he had the blond as his best friend. After the first few rounds of, _ __you know_ , __he had thought that would be it, done, finished. But instead, Scorpius had actually crawled into his bed that night, apparently keen on the idea of getting Albus off, again. The situation had sort of shocked Albus. After all, the idea had only come up because Albus was whining about his virginity and Scorpius was a heaven-sent angel who continued to put up with Albus’ moods, finding solutions for any slight problem he encountered.

“Fuck,” he sighed out, turning to lay flat on his back with a giddy grin as Scorpius cast another cleaning charm with Albus’ wand. He heard Scorpius chuckle at him, and turned to see Scorpius placing it back in the holder of his bed frame while Albus moved to put his underwear back on.

“You want some help?” he asked, and when Scorpius turned his confused gaze to him, he motioned to the obvious bulging in Scorpius’ own trousers.

Scorpius flushed pink and shrugged. “I’m okay, I don’t need it.”

“Oh come on.” Albus grinned and turned to face Scorpius, waving his hand over his crotch jokingly. “You sure?”

Albus watched as Scorpius stayed silent, eyes glancing around aimlessly while chewing on his bottom lip. Finally, Scorpius shrugged, smiled awkwardly and nodded, and Albus let out a cackling laugh. He reached forward the same way he had before.

“I knew it!”

It was probably the best arrangement he could’ve ever made in his life.

 

__-_ _

 

By the time Hogwarts broke up for Christmas break, Scorpius and Albus had established a pretty good rhythm with each other. They had no problem climbing into each other’s bed with a quick silencing charm and jerking each other off, or pulling each other into abandoned classrooms or empty alcoves to, at the very least, get some solid groping in.

Albus supposed that was why he felt so sad as they stepped on to the Hogwarts Express to head home for the holidays. He liked having this sort of tradition that, yes, felt bloody amazing physically, but also had warmth bubbling in his chest every time he heard Scorpius grab his bed curtains to pull them open. He loved it, and while he knew the break was only a month or so, and he and Scorpius had gone for longer without seeing each other, it felt different this time. Scorpius meant something even more to him this time.

“Hey, are you okay?” Albus was brought out of his thoughts by Scorpius taking a seat opposite him, resting his hand on Albus’ knee to get his attention. He had a worried look on his face as he ducked down to catch Albus’ eye.

Albus shook his head and smiled. “I’m good, yeah. Just, don’t you feel a bit weird about this? About not being able to see each other for a month?”

Scorpius smiled sympathetically and nodded in reply to Albus. Normally Scorpius would spend at least a few days at the Potter residence each holiday, and this one would’ve been the same if it weren’t for his Aunt Daphne who was getting married and, caught up in her happiness, invited the entire family to Hawaii for the occasion. Scorpius had told Albus that he had almost refused when his father had told him about it, feigning something about how easily he burnt or something, but he just couldn’t do that. He was always so overjoyed when he heard about how Aunt Daphne still considered him family, and he was so glad to hear that she and her girlfriend were finally tying the knot. He couldn’t _ _not__ go.

“It’ll be okay, we’ve done it before, we can do it again.”

Albus grinned at Scorpius’ overly dramatic words.

“Yeah, I know,” he agreed.

Scorpius sat back in his seat, and reached into his bag to pull out his latest read, _ __Pepper-Up and Pick-Me-Ups_ , __written by Sir Montague Heron Westminster. (While Albus knew he would fall asleep at the first word, Scorpius insisted that it was interesting, and that his mind rarely went darting elsewhere even at the really word-y bits.) Albus stared as Scorpius started tapping his fingers on the hardback cover, fidgeting in his seat the way he always did whenever something was causing him anxieties.

“What’s u-“

“I’m going to miss you Albus!” he blurted out, cutting his friend off blindly. Rather than try taking it back or get distracted by Albus’ wide eyed stare, he decided to push on. “Really, I-... I really am! You’re my best, well, my best _everything_ and while I know we can be apart from each other and still function, which is great -yay autonomy!-, I really don’t want to just because-” Scorpius inhaled sharply, hands gripping his book so tightly he was surprised he hadn’t bent it out of shape. “Well, just because you mean… so much to me Albus, everything to me and… I’m going to miss you. So there.”

Scorpius’ heart was going to beat it’s way out of his chest, he just knew it. It was going to burst out, breaking his ribs in the process, only to land in Albus’ lap like it thought it had some sort of right to be there.

“Mate…” he heard Albus mumble, and tore his eyes away from where they had been burning a hole through the floor to look at him. “I feel the same. I mean… You mean a lot to me too. You’re my best friend, after all.”

Scorpius froze for a moment, before wincing, grinning painfully and shaking his head. “Yes… yes, of course. You’re my best friend too,” he replied quietly, glad to at least see Albus smiling. He wasn’t sure what else he’d expected, what else he’d wanted. He just… he didn’t know, and that was such a terrifying feeling to have.

The rest of their train journey passed relatively quickly. Scorpius had settled back with his mildly mind-numbing book but was barely trying to pay attention to it, and Albus had pulled out one of his well-loved muggle mystery novels that he read over and over again. It was the only kind of book Albus could really get into, and Scorpius found it rather charming. After a while they had ended up playing a few games of exploding snap to pass the time, and Albus had even indulged Scorpius in a round of wizards’ chess on his portable chess board. They had even successfully avoided the trolley witch by keeping the door to their compartment tightly locked and staying quiet when they heard her croaky voice and the squeaking wheels on her trolley.

It was only hours and hours later that Albus realised; they were alone. They had been alone the entire journey and were going to be alone for the rest of it.

“Hey, Scorp,” he called out, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Scorpius let out a light hum in response as he raised his head away from where he was packing his chess board back into his bag.

“I was thinking, maybe, since we’re alone we could…” Albus stopped himself. Why was he acting like this? Like they hadn’t done this already, countless times in countless locations? He was being moronic. Instead, he stood up and spun on his heel to sit himself down next to Scorpius, who was quick to put his bag on the ground.

“Albus, what are-” Scorpius managed to get out before his words shut off with a sudden choking gasp, when Albus had raised his arm, and dropped his hand gently into Scorpius’ lap. More specifically, on his crotch.

“I-... Alb- _ _ _uus___!” Scorpius squeaked out. While Albus ground his palm down into Scorpius’ lap. Albus curled his fingers in firmly to get a solid grip, and he turns his body to face Scorpius, moving himself closer until they're almost chest-to-chest when-

“Okay everyone, off the train! No, not all of you at once, _Merlin_!”

Albus really regretted closing the blinds so early on, maybe then he wouldn’t have started trying to give Scorpius a handjob _apparently_ just as they had been pulling into platform 9 ¾.

He was quick to shoot away from Scorpius, leaping up and back to his own seat just as the locked door of the compartment unlocked, and slammed itself open.

_‘This train really is magical’_ Albus thought, inwardly groaning and he watching Scorpius shuffle in his seat, adjusting himself in his trousers, finishing just in time for the Hogwarts students to start passing by their door, not paying them any mind as they furiously fought to get off the train and meet their families.

“...Sorry,” Albus said after a few awkward moments had passed.

Scorpius shrugged, legs still crossed tightly. “It’s not your fault,” he replied simply, turning to watch the other students for a second before looking back at Albus with a lopsided grin. “It’s a bit funny, actually.”

Albus’ brow furrowed, but smiled loosely anyway. “How so?” he asked

“Well, I feel like it’s just a testament to our shoddy luck.” Scorpius shrugged and leaned over the gap between them. “We might as well laugh at it; we really aren’t good with time, are we?”

Albus tilted his head back, eyes scrunched shut as he gave an odd combination of a sigh and a laugh. “Merlin Scorpius! Really?” he managed to get out, turning his gaze down to Scorpius, who had started laughing hard enough that he had to cover his mouth as to not attract attention from those yet to leave the train. Scorpius shrugged at him in response before standing and picking his bag up from the ground. Albus was quick to follow his movements as they both left the compartment and stepped out onto the platform to find their families.

It wasn’t hard to find them. Even if they didn’t have such large masses of red and/or messy hair (or pale blond, in Scorpius’ case) to guide their way, the direction of everyone’s staring could easily tell them exactly where they needed to go. Albus would never like the staring, never flourished in it the way so many members of his family did, but he’d gotten better with it, learnt to understand it and ignore it so that it didn’t bother him so much anymore.

The first time he and Scorpius had arrived at the platform to see Draco standing with Albus’ parents, and Aunts and Uncles, had been exactly two years ago, back in their fourth year. It was the first time they were coming back home after that horrendous mess with the timeturners, and both of the boys were wrecked with nerves. Technically there was nothing they could do to keep them apart at Hogwarts, not after Albus’ Dad had promised not to meddle anymore, but out of school it was different. They could be kept apart, and they both knew that after everything they had put their families through, it wouldn’t be unjust to keep them apart while they have the chance. The feeling of pure happiness the two of them had felt when they had arrived to see Draco standing with Harry and Ginny, and even Hermione and Ron, was almost overwhelming. It turned out that Draco had gotten a lot closer to them (though they could still question whether Draco and Ron would ever be considered friends, the way they still teased each other) and had even met them for a meal or a few drinks once in a while. And when they had brought up the topic of Scorpius staying at the Potters’, or Albus coming to the Manor, Albus could remember watching Scorpius almost start crying from happiness, ever the emotional one, leaping to give his Dad the largest hug Albus had ever had the pleasure to witness between the two of them.

As always, Albus was glad to see that the apparent tradition had continued, as he and Scorpius got closer to their families who were, yet again, grouped together. It didn’t take long to get the normal hugging, patting and ‘honestly, are you boys ever going to stop growing?’ out of the way, and Albus had the chance to pull Scorpius into a tight hug.

“Oh, hello. Okay then,” Albus heard Scorpius mutter into his ear before he felt him reach up to wrap his arms around Albus’ shoulder, the familiar phrase causing a smile to break out on his face. Honestly, they’d done much dirtier, much more explicit things than hug, and somehow this was the thing that surprised Scorpius the most. Ridiculous.

“I’m really gonna miss you,” Albus whispered. Their hug had gone on long enough that they had started weirdly swaying on the spot.

“Me too. I’m going to miss you, so much,” he heard, and felt Scorpius sigh against his neck. As much as he really didn’t want to, as much as he wanted to stay there on the platform, swaying awkwardly, he knew that people -their families- were watching, meaning that he needed to let go of Scorpius before anyone could think anything too weird about it. Once they’d separated, Albus held Scorpius by the shoulders, only an arms’ width away.

“Promise you’ll write to me?”

Albus wanted to melt at Scorpius’ warm, reassuring smile. “Of course I will, everyday. You too?”

He nodded firmly. “Always.”

“Honestly, you two! You’re both aware that it’s only a month right? You’re not going your separate ways forever,” Albus’ mum chimed in, and when Albus turned to her he could see the fond grin she had on her face. One thing he had always loved and appreciated about his mum is that she had never ever gone against or had a bad thing to say about Albus and Scorpius’ friendship. She had never doubted them the same way so many people had done, still did now. Albus adored her for it, and doubted he would ever be able to put into words how much her support meant to him.

“It’s still a long time,” he grumbled in reply, though the smile at the corner of his mouth made it clear that he was only kidding. He was glad to see his Mum laugh.

Albus turned back to Scorpius, watching for a second as he handed over his robes to Draco, who tucked them over his arm. He tilted his head to catch Scorpius’ eye.

“See ya next year,” Albus joked, causing Scorpius to roll his eyes with a smiling huff.

“Yes, I suppose.” Scorpius waved his hand at Albus, despite them still standing barely a few metres from each other. “See you!” he chirped.

Albus watched as Scorpius and his dad walked away once Draco had said his own goodbyes, staring as Scorpius started rambling to him, likely about anything and everything he could think of. Despite how long the letters he sent were, Scorpius always had something to talk about or start a discussion about.

“C’mon Albus,” he was bought out of his Scorpius-centric thoughts by his Dad, who slung an arm over Albus’ shoulder while his mum began fussing over Lily next to them. “I’ve got a surprise for you at home.”

 

\---

 

“Holy shit- James!” Albus yelled out once the father-son duo had been spit out by the fireplace, Lily and Mum having gone ahead. Lily was already tugging at James’ shirt, trying to keep his attention best she could, while Ginny yelled out a sharp ‘language!’ Albus’ way. “What the bloody hell are you doing here? Aren’t you meant to be in Romania or something?” Albus’ questioning was half muffled as James brought him into a tight bear hug, slapping him on the head heartedly before ruffling his hair with his hand.

“Close; Bulgaria! And technically, nah, not anymore.”

Albus stared at James for a moment, utterly confused. It must’ve shown on his face, because James snorted and shoved his shoulder. “My training is over, dummy. Well, technically it’s never over, but I have officially completely the intensive course with _flying_ colours!”

Albus, electing to ignore such a terrible pun, let out a bark of proud laughter, and lunged towards his older brother with another hug, one he was only too glad to receive if the laughter was any indication. James had been scouted by a professional quidditch team straight out of Hogwarts, the _Montrose Magpies_ of all the bloody teams, and had been hurried off to this crazy training course almost before he’d had the time to take his Gryffindor uniform off. Because of this, Albus hadn’t been able to see his brother since before summer had started. Technically, he could’ve taken the year-long training and been able to come home at the weekends, but he had wanted to get it out of the way, so he took the nine month training contract. Albus understood, he really did, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

James and his mum had had a pretty long conversation, professional quidditch veteran to newbie, mother to son, about the commitment being a professional full time quidditch player would be, and the various different ways it could take you away from your family. That had been part of the reason Mum had eventually retired, if not for the fact that she had become pregnant with her third child, she hated how she was constantly away at a game (whether it be one she was playing at or not) or at a training course she was obliged to attend due to her contract.

“But you’re not meant to be home until January, at the earliest,” Albus pointed out, confusing lacing his tone.

“Wow, Al! I make it home a month early, bags in tow, keeping it a secret for my wonderful siblings to enjoy, and one of the first things you say to me is ‘what the bloody hell are you do doing here?’ Honestly!” James gave his exaggerated yell complete with a toss of his arms in the air. This made Albus laugh and jump at him, pulling in another hug, which James snickered at. Still, he returned it tightly.

“You know that’s not what I mean you tosser,” he said into James ear.

“Yeah, I know,” James replied, raising his arm to twist their positions until he had Albus in a loose headlock. It didn’t take much squirming for Albus to break free.

“I just buckled down, you know. I know it sounded like a pretty intense contract, Merlin knows how terrified I was, but as long as you do your training and put your heart and soul into getting better, they’re actually pretty chill about it.”

Albus turned to exchange a wide-eyed look with Lily. Yeah, ‘heart and soul’ sounded _really_ chill.

“Anyway, that’s what I did, I worked my fuckin’ arse off to meet and even surpass their expectations, so when I asked if I could go home early, they said okay.” James punctuated his words by walking over to their little sister and wrapping his arms around her in a hug. Lily was only too happy to have regained his attention, immediately ducking into his side with a fierce grip.

“I’m assuming that’s where _this_ came from then,” Albus heard his mum say as she walked over to her oldest to rub at his buzzed head. James ducked down so that she could and grinned.

“Yep, you’d be surprised just how much better you fly when you haven’t got so much hair on your head. Plus, I think I pull it off pretty well.” He turned to their Mum with a silly grin and a cocked eyebrow, almost daring her to try disagreeing. Albus had to admit that he didn’t look bad at all, though he would never say that out loud where James could possibly hear him.

“I like it!” Lily yelled, apparently not having the same concerns as Albus.

 

—-

 

Much to James’ disgruntlement, it only took a few weeks for people to stop giving so much attention to his presence. Lily had returned to splitting her time between her friends who came to visit, and fawning over that muggle boy band she liked, while Albus had gone back to his quiet hobby of hanging by the kitchen window, waiting impatiently for each reply Scorpius sent to him. Their letters were frequent, almost desperate, as if trying to replicate the speed of a normal conversation. Even on Christmas Day at the burrow, he refused to stop waiting for the sight of his tawny owl. Part of him was wondering if he’d get a reply so soon, since he’d only sent the last letter two days ago and Christmas post never arrived on time, especially when the recipient was in a whole other continent.

“ _Al-bus_ , would you shut the window? You’re letting all the hot air out!” Rose came over to demand of him, reaching around to grab the creaky window’s handle to tug it shut.

“Wh-Rose! No! Would you bugger off?!” He planted his palms on the window, pushing forward so that Rose couldn’t pull it shut.

“But I’m cold!”

“I don’t care, you know warming charms!”

“And _you_ know that I’m still under-”

Rose’s words were halted by Albus’ dad, who had rested a hand on both of their shoulders.

“Okay, what’s wrong?”

“Albus won’t shut-“

“-I don’t want-!”

“-the window and I’m freezing and he doesn’t-!”

“-to miss any post you can just-!”

“-care he’s making everyone-!”

“-use a blanket or a jumper why-!”

_“QUIET!”_

All three heads turned to see Hermione standing behind them, watching with her hands on her hips, looking every bit the Minister for Magic. She was staring at them with a stern look, but the amused quirk of her lips told them everything they needed to know about how she was really feeling.

“Rose, you can’t just shut the window like that without asking if it’s okay, not when Albus clearly has it open for a reason.”

“But-!”

“No buts Rose. Go on, get back to your father, see if he’s left you any mince pies.”

“And Albus, keeping the window open like that in the middle of December is just asking for the flu, not everyone is as content as you are to sit in a freezing house just because you’re waiting for your owl to come back.” Albus watched his Dad approach the window, nudging Albus to the side lightly with a hip bump before reaching to shut it himself.

“Dad!”

“Albus!” Harry replied in the same whiny tone, mocking his younger son. He had a grin on his face and hands on his hips, and Albus couldn’t help laughing at his Dad’s ridiculous imitation.

With his Dad’s arm around his shoulders, Albus stepped away from the window and walked further into the house, into the den where his gigantic family were trying to squeeze themselves in.

“Finally! You know we don’t enjoy having to do warming charms, don’t you Al?” James piped up when he saw them. He had his arms full of Teddy and Victoire’s newborn baby girl, Estelle, and even while he was talking at Albus, his eyes were still trained on her huge blue eyes. This was the first time he’d gotten to see Estelle, and he was clearly making sure he got his allotted bonding time, likely so that he could sway her into believing that he should be her favourite uncle. The rest of their family were loosely crowding round, just in case they got the opportunity to swoop in and get some time to fawn over the adorable baby girl.

“I wouldn’t worry my dear, we’ll even keep an eye out for you if you like,” his Grandma Molly chimed in with a pat on his cheek, pulling him down and away from his Dad (with a surprising amount of strength for an old woman) to sit on the arm of the patchwork sofa her and Grandpa Arthur were lounging on.

“Okay James, it’s time for Estelle’s nap.” Albus watched as Teddy gave Victoire a kiss on her cheek before he reached over to take his child from James’ grasp, ignoring the look of betrayal on his face.

“Fine,” James huffed, before he quickly turned his attention, full attention now, to Albus. “What’re you waiting for anyway? Did you finally get a girlfriend or something?” he teased.

Albus frowned and rolled his eyes while his cousins tried to muffle their laughter. Somehow, with their great masses, it still came through rather clearly.

“Shut up James,” he grumbled whilst Roxanne took the opportunity to thump Albus’ knee. “I’m waiting for Scorpius’ letter,” he admitted with a casual shrug, but James replied with an obnoxious ‘ _ooooohh’_.

“Saucy,” he said, with an overly-done wink sent Albus’ way, more laughter admitting from their family surrounding them. Albus just rolled his eyes at James’ usual jokes, used to them after so many years of being subjected to them. He didn’t feel like explaining how terrible it felt to not be able to see him that winter break, especially not in front of so many people.

It didn’t take long for them to settle back into their places once Ginny had flicked at James’ ear, watching an old muggle movie that Aunt Hermione claimed was a ‘classic Christmas movie’ on TV that Grandpa Arthur had been lovingly restoring. It was kinda nice, Albus could admit to himself. He had slipped from the armrest down the floor to sit next to Roxanne and Lucy, who had been sweet enough to wrap a fuzzy grey blanket around his shoulders. Multiple mismatched mugs of hot chocolate had floated their way into the den, something that he was so used that he didn’t he didn’t even question it when one had nudged against his palm.

It was hours later, when the movie was long over and they had all started playing some odd variations of different board games that Albus couldn’t keep track of, that he really wished he’d just stayed by the window, freezing his bollocks off.

“Ugh, really Freddy?! You had to bring that thing with you.” Albus turned away from where Grandma Molly was taking all of his fake galleons to his Aunt Angelina, who had leant forward in her seat to try and grab something that Freddy was cackling and waving about. It was only when he had passed it over to Hugo, who had no problem going along with it and fiddling with it until a familiar whirring noise was heard.

“Oh for fucks’ sake!”

“Ugh, _really_?”

“Freddy, _why_ would you-?!”

“Hugo, if you don’t turn that-”

“Yes!! Oh _Merlin_ this is-!”

Albus watched as the Randy Radar began floating around the room with dread pooling in his stomach. He watched as a few of the adults jumped up to try and swat it back down, while the rest of his family was either laughing like a pack of hyenas or looking like they couldn’t possibly be more unimpressed by the contraption. He stared as it floated around, glowing innocently while it gradually got closer to Albus and-

_‘Oh Merlin, no. Just don’t look at it, just ignore it!’_

-moved away again. He watched, slightly stunned as it just hovered up and left Albus’ space.

“I… Oh…” he whispered to himself. He knew what everyone expected to happen, especially everyone that had been there that summer, and wasn’t surprised when there was a moment of silence.

“Wait, what?” Albus heard Freddy murmur, before the sound came back in, the return of adults trying to get the device down, the sound of pillows waving through the air, sometimes accidentally smacking someone else when they missed their target.

“Woah, hang on, does this-” Albus turned to see James clambering over a mess of board game pieces, blankets and cousins, ducking down when one of their Dad’s cushions went flying across the room. “Does this mean you’re not a virgin anymore?!” he inquired, and Albus really wished that his brother had more tact.

“James! Would you shut up?”

“I just wanna know if my baby bro has started having sex!”

“Would you-!” Albus huffed and rubbed a hand through his hair. “Stop yelling about it, you arse!”

“ _Merlin’s beard!_ You have!” he heard Hugo yell as he too pushed to get closer to Albus.

Albus groaned as he turned away, avoiding everyone’s gazes that were turning his way, even if they were pretending not to care or notice his flushed face. He was incredibly glad when he saw that his mum had climbed on to his dad’s back and grabbed the stupid prank harshly. He watched as she fiddled with it and, unable to find the off switch, began stomping on it.

“Oi, Ginny!” He saw his Uncle George step forward, looking slightly distraught.

“This stupid thing has done nothing but cause embarrassment, and it’s not like you were going to take it any further anyway. Get over it.”

Albus really wanted to smile when he saw his mum replying like that while his dad was gathering the broken pieces, which he tossed into the fireplace with a single throw. He watched as she turned back to him, smiling in a way that was slightly awkward, but no less loving than it always was. Understandable, considering the context. Merlin, he loved his mum so much.

“Okay, come on!” Aunt Hermione called out. “Everyone sit back down, we still need to watch-”

“Home Alone!” Hugo yelled, attention apparently diverted, something Albus was highly grateful for. He watched as Hermione nodded, though he doubted that’s what she was actually going to say and was just glad that the focus was no longer on Albus or the strange topic.

Albus tugged his blanket tighter around himself as everyone settled back into their seats, James choosing to stay next to him. He felt a nudge at his knee, and looked to see a plate of mince pies being given to him by his brother. He saw the pointed look James gave him, clearly trying to convey something else other than ‘hungry?’ and was quick to look away, pretending to be so incredibly enraptured with the mince pie he took from the pile. He heard James’ amused chuckle whilst Albus fiddled with the small pastry, pulling a tiny piece off and popping it into his mouth whilst the opening credits began to play, odd twinkling tune emerging and causing everyone to finally quiet down.

\---

“So…” Albus heard as he stepped into the kitchen the next morning. He’d been avoiding everyone since the _incident_ the day before, claiming his own room in one of the many that had been added to the burrow over the years and going to bed while he could still hear people laughing and chatting downstairs, feigning a headache that didn’t fool anyone. It was now way too early for anyone to be up on boxing day, food hangovers (and actual hangovers) taking effect, leaving time for Albus to go downstairs, check the mail and grab some food before running back to his bed. Clearly he had been mistaken.

He looked up, frozen, seeing James leaning against the kitchen side, drinking from a chipped mug, the latest edition of _The Daily Prophet_ in one hand. Albus looked away, back to the crooked staircase for a moment before he realised how stupid it would be to run away and go without breakfast just because James wanted to be a tosser. With a moment’s hesitation, he stepped forward and continued to the cupboard to grab the box of cereal his grandparents kept their for him.

“The post came.”

Albus looked up with a hum.

“Yeah. You got a letter.”

Albus immediately put his cereal down and surged forward towards the pile of envelopes that sat on the kitchen table but quickly corrected himself into a calm walk. He heard James’ snort and clenched his jaw as he casually picked up the letter that had ‘ _ALBUS’_ written on it in Scorpius’ swirly handwriting. He was quick to slip it into the waistband of his pyjama trousers and moved to grab the milk to add it to his cereal so that he could leave as soon as possible, but stopped when James spoke again.

“I can’t believe you lost your virginity before I did.” Albus turned to see James shaking his head as he stared down into his mug, paper of the counter nearby.

“...Really?” he asked, pretending to have no interest at all in his words as he moved around the kitchen.

James made a humming noise. “Yeah. I lost it in seventh year with that girl I was dating.”

“Abigail Moonsbury?” Albus asked, remembering the weird hippy girl James had been with for a lot of his seventh year. As odd as she was, Albus quite liked her, and had thought it was a shame that neither Abigail nor James had wanted to continue their relationship.

“Yeah. And you?”

Albus startled. “And I… what?”

James rolled his eyes with a grin. “Who’d you lose it to? Is she fit?”

Albus scoffed as he turned to pour his milk, stomach flipping with some sudden nerves. “Bugger off James.”

“Oh come on Al, I’m your big brother! Honestly I’m surprised you didn’t tell me as soon as you got home.”

“You never told me when you lost yours,” he pointed out.

James tilted his head. “True, fair enough. But still, it’s a big point in your life-” Albus rolled his eyes “-and I’d’ve liked to know just because, well, you’re my baby brother. I would’ve given you the talk, or something.”

Albus’ face wrinkled in confusion. “You- what? Dad gave me the talk years ago.”

James sighed. “Yeah, he gave you the dad version. He filled in any gaps you had about how it works, told you about contraception and condoms and the lube charm and stuff, right?” Albus nodded. “Exactly, that’s the dad part. The older brother part is the other important stuff, like how to make stuff feel good or the different kind of stuff you can do, answering questions and giving you the specifics that no one wants to learn about from their parents, y’know.”

Albus stared. “I’m meant to learn about that stuff, from you?”

“Well, yeah. I mean it doesn’t have to be me specifically, but someone who’s like an older sibling or whatever. I got that talk from Teddy.”

“Oh.” Albus frowned as he put the milk back in the fridge. “Well, it was fine so you don’t need to worry.”

James’ eyebrows rose in surprise. “Oh. Well good for you then.” He raised his mug in an odd toast.

They stood there in a stuffy silence for a few moments, Albus crunching on his shredded wheat while James sipped on his coffee. For a small while, Albus was relieved, thinking that it was over, until James spoke again.

“Who was it?”

Albus groaned. “I already said, bugger off! I’m not telling you that!”

“Oh come on, you know you want to bra-ag!” James sung, crowding closer to Albus to jab him in the side jokingly. Albus was glad he’d lightened up on that particular gesture.

“No, I don’t, it’s private!”

“Yes you do, I know you and I know that, if your face right now is anything to go, this wasn’t just a random fuck in a storage cupboard.”

Albus’ flushed face blew into a full-out red blush as he stared at James in horror.

“What the hell are you even talking about?”

“You know what I mean! C’mon, if you don’t tell me who it was, I’ll tell Mum that you’re the one who broke her trophy.”

Albus felt dread pool in his stomach. “You wouldn’t.”

Back when he was a kid, Albus had fallen into one of the shelves in their home, causing his mum’s Quidditch League trophy to go smashing into the ground, breaking in half and giving Albus nightmares for months. James had actually taken the blame for it at the time, and been grounded for the rest of the summer, but had always acted like it was no big deal, and that Albus didn’t need to make up for it in anyway. Now, Albus understood why. Honestly the prat should’ve been put into Slytherin too.

“I bloody would. Look, I wouldn’t actually force you to tell me if you wanted to keep to yourself, I get that it’s a private thing, but I’m here. If you wanted to.”

Albus swirled his cereal around in his bowl a few times, thinking to himself. Yeah, it was a private thing, and he wanted it to stay private, but it was James. He wanted him to know, wanted to share it with him because it was big deal and, well, their relationship had improved leaps and bounds to get to the point where Albus felt good about sharing this stuff with him. He wanted to make use of that.

“T’s cop’us,” he mumbled around his spoon.

James shifted closer with a grin. “Didn’t quite catch that.”

Albus swallowed and put his bowl down. “I said…” Albus’ voice got quieter. “It’s Scorpius.”

James stared at him, so Albus opened his mouth to repeat himself again. “I _said_ , it-”

“Oh, no I heard you Al, I just…”

Albus looked away, shifting awkwardly.

“I didn’t realise you two were like that. Together.”

Albus raised his hands, palms out, hurrying to correct him. “Oh! No, we aren’t. We’re just…” Albus stopped, trying to think of the right words.

“Fucking?” James helpfully responded.

“No,” Albus shook his head. “No, we’re not, we’re just wanking each other off.”

James stepped back. “But you said you lost your-... the Randy Radar didn’t light you up! I thought you’d actually had sex.”

Albus frowned. “We have, I just said that we’d-”

“I know what you said Al, but that’s not sex. You might be thinking it counts because you’re both guys, but anal sex, oral sex, _that_ counts. Not handjobs.”

“It counts to me!” A tiny part of Albus’ brain was trying to get him to shut up, very much aware that his entire extended family were still in the house, and the burrow was not soundproof unless you had a charm up. “I get that maybe it’s not seen as that by very many people, but I do, so there! It’s a sexual act that I’ve done with another person, with Scorpius, and it counts to me! I’ve been having sex with Scorpius. Even that bloody radar thing agrees with me.” Albus picked up his bowl and slammed it into the sink, despite the fact that it still had a decent amount of food in it. He went to turn away and leave, but was stopped by a very firm grasp on his shoulder pulling him back.

“Wait.” Albus stared to see James rubbing his hand over his head, a nervous habit Albus was familiar with. “Look, I’m sorry. That was totally out of line for me, and you’re right. Sex is… Well, it’s not something where you have to tick all the boxes to say ‘yeah I’ve done it’ or whatever. It’s personal, so if you say that handjobs, for you, count as having sex then,” James raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, “yeah, you’ve had sex.” James reached forward, smirking. “Proud of you.” He mumbled with a nudge to Albus’ shoulder, causing Albus to grumble out of embarrassment and turn away, this time just to lean back against the counter rather than leave completely.

He watched as James grabbed his mug and placed it in the sink next to Albus’ bowl, before grabbing a nectarine from the fruit bowl behind him. “I don’t know if I should be surprised though,” he said as he started peeling the fruit.

Albus frowned. “About what?”

“That you’re with a guy. You dated that girl last year right? From Ravenclaw.”

Albus nodded.

“I mean, obviously you can date both and be bi or whatever, I’m just wondering. I had a feeling about you, you know. A while ago.”

“A feeling? About what?”

“About you liking guys! I mean, you weren’t exactly subtle with that little crush you had on Gonçalo Flores as a kid.”

“I had a- what! I didn’t have a crush on Gonçalo Flores, I just admired his Quidditch… skills. You know, how he chased the quaffle and stuff!”

James’ expression turned pitying. “Oh Albus… Come on, you’ve already told me how you and Scorpius are together, you don’t need to hide it!”

Albus froze, heart skipping a beat and then pumping at triple the speed. “Wh- I don’t! We aren’t- Why would you say that?”

“Because you are? I mean you’ve been acting like you’re dating him this whole time.”

“No I’m not!” Albus yelled. He could feel his hands shaking and clenched them in an attempt to stop. “We’re not- together. We’re not dating. I don’t like him like that and he doesn’t like me like that. We’re platonic. Friends. Just friends.”

"You've wanked one another off?" James asked and when Albus nodded 'yes' his brother went mental. "Friends don't wank one another off, Al," James half-shouted, " _Merlin_ , you're an idiot."

Albus stared, wide-eyed and affronted. “Y-yes they do! Or they can, at least! You’ve heard of friends with benefits right?”

James nodded. “Of course I have, but are you friends with benefits?”

Albus opened his mouth with a choking noise before closing it and trying again. “We’re friends. And we’ve i-introduced benefits to our relationship so, yeah. Yes, we are friends with benefits.”

James stared hard, jaw dropped. Albus watched as he visibly shook himself out of it and stood firmly in front of him.

“Is that something you’ve agreed upon? Like you’ve had an actual discussion about it?”

Albus opened his mouth to reply but had to shut it when he realised, no, they hadn’t talked about it, not really, not after those first few times. But that didn’t mean they were dating! He told James as such and stared as James waved his hands in front of them both.

“I’m not saying that it means you’re dating. But I have to ask, even though I know you wouldn’t want to tell me; do you like him? Is that why you been acting like this?”

Albus shook his head firmly, but couldn’t bring himself to actually open his mouth and say ‘no’. James just didn’t understand. “Acting like what?”

“Acting like you’ve been kept away from your bloody boyfriend, acting like the distance is some sort of unjust decision that’s been decided for you both!” James’ tone was slightly hysterical. “I get that you’ve finally started exploring your sexuality, but I highly doubt you’ve become so addicted and dependant on it that _that_ is what you’ve been yearning for this whole time.”

Albus’ gaze had dropped to the burgundy and cream tiles that he was stood on, but he wasn’t seeing the floor at all. He felt like he could cry, the back of his eyes stinging slightly as James spoke. He didn’t know how to respond, didn’t know how to deny it without lying. He didn’t even know if he could deny it. “I…” Albus choked out, but couldn’t get any further into whatever gibberish he was trying to get across. He raked both his hands through his messy hair, seizing it by the fistful with a tug that was slightly painful. “...Shut up,” he whispered, despite the fact that James had been silent for a while now, watching his little brother’s inner batter occur.

Albus heard the scrape of chairs legs against the floor through the ringing in his ears. “C’mon, sit down.” James sighed out.

“James,” he said plainly.

“Albus.”

Albus raised his head to see that his brother, now sitting on one of the chairs at the table, had pulled out another one to face him. It was the one coated in chipped black paint that Albus always ended up having to sit on, and had now developed a slight kinship with. Albus released his hair with a huff, and slipped into the chair offered, slouching back in it the way he usually would.

“Okay,” James started, and Albus watched as he leant forwards to rest his forearms on his knees, grasping his hands together. “Clearly you’re a bit… shocked or something, at this whole conversation, and while I’m sorry about that, I think that this is a really good thing for you to be seriously thinking about. If you and Scorpius don’t end up dating ever, if it turns out you don’t feel anything for each other that way and this really is just some teenage experimentation, fine. That’s all fine, you’re both one-hundred percent entitled to be able to do that. But what I’m asking you to do now is to just think. Think about what he really means to you, how he makes you feel and what how feel about yourself when you’re with him.”

Albus stayed silent as James spoke, his gaze dropping from where it had been staring at his brother, to his own knees. He clenched his jaw when he felt the stinging intensify as his eyes began to water, sniffing harshly and rubbing the back of his hands across the tip of his nose roughly. He didn’t know what he was meant to say here, what he was meant to do. Scorpius meant… _everything_ to him. Of course he did, they’d been each other’s only friend for so long, and then gone through stuff together that no one should have to go through at all. Albus never felt so calm and content in his life as he did when he was with Scorpius, just slumbering by the fire or walking through the Hogwarts grounds together. He felt warm and wonderful whenever he got to see Scorpius smile, and purposely did these things on the chance that he got to see it again. And when he and Scorpius were together, in _that_ way, he felt like he could die happily, peacefully and wonderfully by Scorpius’ side because he needn’t want for anything more.

He just wanted… Scorpius.

That’s it, that all he wanted, _who_ he wanted. He wanted to be by his side for as long as Scorpius would allow him to be, even if it remained platonic until they were wrinkly old men who needed to remind each other to take their potions in the morning. He wanted to have a career, have friends, have his family and all the love in the world, all the while having Scorpius to come home to. And if they could be more than they had now, if they could be more than friends?

“ _Fuck_ …” Albus sighed, bending over to press the heel of his palms into his eyes, fingers spread and tense. His head was pounding like crazy, and he really wished he had just gone back to sleep as soon as he’d seen James lingering in the kitchen.

“Hey,” he heard James whisper, and felt his hand come to rest on Albus’ shoulder. He raised his head just enough to be able to get a blurry look at his brother. “You need me for anything?”

Albus dropped his head again and sighed. Truthfully, he didn’t, but he was glad to know that James was there if he did need something. He shook his head slowly, and listening as James stood, tucked his chair in and shuffled his way out of the kitchen area and up the staircase, unable to ignore how the letter that he had, crinkled against his stomach, felt like it was burning a hole through his skin.

 

\---

 

Despite how anxiously he had been waiting for Scorpius’ reply the day before, it took him a good few hours to actually get the courage to break the wax seal his friend used. He ended up lying on his bed, head turned to stare at the envelope he had gently placed on his bedside table, unable to stop his stomach from turning and making him feel sick.

_‘This is ridiculous’_ , he thought. _‘It’s just Scorpius, the same guy you’ve been best friends with for years. Besides, a random realisation isn’t going to affect what Scorpius sends to you.’_

With a quick, forced burst of courage, he sat up and grabbed the letter, ripped the seal in two and opened the letter. He would almost think himself better, if not for the way his hands couldn’t stop shaking.

_“Dear Albus,_

_It’s so wonderful to hear that you and your family have been doing so well! I know that you don’t like to admit it, but I could tell how much you’d been missing him. And working extra hard so that he could come and spend Christmas with you all, that’s absolutely fantastic! Merlin, it’s so nice to hear about how much closer the two of you have gotten over the past few years. It sometimes makes me wish I had a sibling, but then again I don’t think I’d want to have to share my sweets with someone like that all the time. Except you, of course._

_By the way, in reply to that cheeky question: lots and lots of sunscreen potion! I had a feeling you’d find it hilarious, and while I can’t deny my face does look a tad bit pinker than before we arrived, I like to think of it as a healthy glow. Or at least, that’s was Clarisse says to call it. Speaking of Clarisse, she told me to call her Auntie, how wonderful is that? I’m so happy for Aunt Daphne, she’s married the love of her life! I really hope I get to marry someone that means that much to me someday. You’d better be there at the wedding, I’ll make sure the cake is honey-flavoured! Maybe I’m thinking too far ahead, but what can I say, I’m inspired! :D_

_Dad says hello by the way, and that he wishes you a Merry Christmas! Or, hopes you had one, if you get this after the 25th. Did you do much or are you planning to do much? As you know, we don’t really have many traditions for Christmas, and especially now when we’re all caught up in the wedding malarkey there isn’t time for much. Your traditions always sound so wonderful! I’m writing this on Christmas Eve and I’ll try to send it off as soon as I can, but I don’t know if it’ll make it to you in time considering the distance and the delays of the holidays._

_I’ll leave this letter here as I want to send this as soon as I can. I hope everyone is doing well!_

_Sincerely yours,_  
Scorpius.  
:)

_P.S: Don’t worry, I’ve given Pidgeon plenty of treats and food to eat so she should be completely okay to fly over the pond!  
P.P.S: I know we said no presents since we aren’t together on Christmas, but I saw this at one of the muggle markets the other day and just had to get it for you. I can’t really decide if it’s your style or not, I’ve never seen you with any type of jewellery on, but I thought it would look nice if you chose to wear it. It’s made of lava stones and emeralds, so I feel like it’ll match your eyes.”_

Albus picked the envelope up and, sure enough, where was something sliding around the bottom of it. When he reached in to pick it up, he could feel the cool bumpy texture of some sort of beads making soft tapping noises as they hit each other.

The majority of the beads were matt black, bumpy and textured and Albus assumed they were were the lava stones. Two of them, however, were smooth and shiny, reflecting the dim light of Albus’ room. They were dark green and cool-toned, and while Albus never really paid much attention to his own eye colour, he doubted Scorpius was going to be wrong about it.

Albus fiddled with the bracelet, twisting the beads around and rubbing his fingers over the surface of them. Albus was almost ashamed as he got a surge of happiness, when he held the bracelet up to his nose and could spell the faintest traces of Scorpius’ cologne. Maybe it didn’t mean anything, maybe it just came from the envelope that had caught some of Scorpius’ scent, but he liked to think that Scorpius had twisted and fiddled with this trinket just as much as Albus had, just as much as Albus could picture him doing. It was the closest thing to a hug he would get with Scorpius until they went back to Hogwarts for the spring term.

 

\---

 

“And you’ve got your textbooks?”

“Yes Mum.”

“And your quills? You forgot those last time.”

“ _Yes_ , Mum! I’ve packed everything I swear!”

Albus huffed and tugged on his larger trunk to pull it off of his bed to rest at the floor by his feet. Pidgeon was perched calmly in her cage on his desk, while they both watched Ginny fasten Albus’ smaller trunk shut.

“Just remember, if you are missing anything, you can always owl us and we’ll get it to you as soon as possible.”

“I _know_ ,” Albus whined, slumping down to sit on his bed, hands on his lap, as he listened to his mum repeat the same stuff she repeated every time they were about to leave for platform 9 ¾. He listened to her as she positioned the luggage, ready to take down stairs, but looked up when he suddenly went quiet.

“That’s a nice bracelet,” she said calmly, looking fondly down at him. Albus followed his gaze into his lap, to where he hadn’t even noticed he’d been fiddling the bracelet Scorpius gave to him. “You never did mention where you got it from, though. Nothing nefarious, I hope,” she teased, causing Albus to grin and roll his eyes.

“‘Course not,” he said, and took a moment to clear his throat. “Scorpius actually got it for me, for Christmas. We weren’t gonna do presents this year, him being away and all, but he surprised me with it,” he murmured, just loud enough that he knew she could hear. He had returned to staring at it, twisting it around his wrist carefully.

“I see,” his mum said plainly, before she moved to sit next to him on the bed. He spared her a confused glance, but was only met with one of her smiles that, for some odd reason, looked oddly proud.

“So, you and Scorpius. You two are… friends. Correct?”

Albus nodded, but shot her a suspicious look.

“I was just wondering, what with that conversation you and James had at your Grandparents’ place.”

Despite the countless amount of things she could’ve been referring to, Albus knew exactly what she meant as he hung his head with a whine.

“ _Merlin_ , you heard that?”

“I’m pretty sure everyone heard it Albus, you were both being quite loud.”

Albus flopped back in frustration, back hitting his bed suddenly. He wanted to stay silent, but apparently his mum wasn’t going to allow that.

“I’m not going to give you a lecture or anything like that, Merlin knows we don’t have the time for that, but I’d like you to be honest with me.” Ginny turned to rest her hand on her son’s knee. “Do you love him?”

Albus stared at her, lump caught in his throat. A part of him hadn’t expected such a blunt question from her, but he supposed he should be relieved. He tended to get himself caught up in his own head a lot, and she knew that. He turned away, flinging his arm up to rest his forearm over his eyes, letting out the slightest nod he could as the bracelet rubbed against his forehead.

He heard her sigh and moved his arm enough that he could see her smiling down at him.

“Come here” she said.

“What?”

Ginny moved to take a hold of her son’s arms, pulling until he got the memo and sat up himself. As soon as she could, she wrapped him into a hug, tucking his head under her chin.

“I’m proud of you,” she whispered into his messy hair. Albus wasn’t even sure what he should respond with in that moment, what was even appropriate to respond with. He opened his mouth to choke something out, but was interrupted by Lily who hadn’t bothered to knock on his door, and had instead decided to just fall into his room.

“Mum! Can you help me get my stuff downstairs?” Albus sat up as the hug was broken, and watched as his mum got up to approach Lily.

“Of course, I’ll be right there.” Lily smiled and quickly twirled out of the room, flashing a quick grin at Albus as she did.

Ginny turned back to Albus just before she too left the room. “Go on, take your stuff downstairs,” she prompted, using her head to motion to the staircase outside of Albus’ room.

“What, no help for me?” he asked sarcastically, grinning widely and earning a smile and head shake from his mum before she left to help Lily with her hundreds of bags.

 

\---

 

Like every year, Albus wasted no time in getting aboard the Hogwarts Express. He give his mum and dad a hug, and put up with a shoulder-bump from James. Lily had done the same and quickly ran off when she spotted her friends, which Albus thought was a fantastic idea, quickly following her lead and clambering on to the train with a quick wave back to his family.

It didn’t take long for him to find Scorpius, who still got on the train early each time, as he always tried to claim the compartment at the the very end. Less people passed by there after all, so there was less chance of encountering bullies.

“Hi!” Albus chimed as he pulled the compartment door open. Before he could turn and lock it behind him, he was enveloped by a mass of limbs and fabric that grabbed him into a firm, warm hug.

“Albus!” Scorpius yelped, movements so forceful he caused Albus to stumble back until his back was against the door frame behind him. Albus laughed at Scorpius’ large display of enthusiasm, and quickly returned the hug, fisting Scorpius’ robes in his hands. He couldn’t deny how wonderful it felt to finally have this boy with him again, how right it felt to be near him.

“Okay, calm down,” he managed to stutter out between bouts of laughter. Scorpius obliged and moved away, sending an apologetic look his way as he did which Albus waved off.

Albus moved to sit opposite Scorpius like usual, watching as he picked up his latest find (that had apparently dropped to the floor in the whirlwind of motion) and closed it gently before slipping it into his bag. True to his written words, Scorpius was rather pink. It wasn’t too bad, he had clearly used just as much sunscreen potion as he had mentioned, but there was definite pinkness across his cheeks and over his nose. Albus couldn’t help but think it looked very cute.

_‘Fuck’_ he thought. There was no way he could become one of those pining morons you saw, sighing and mooning over everything the object of their affections did.

“So how was your Christmas? Other than what you told me of course! I read your letters obviously, multiple times actually, so I’m plenty informed of what you’ve already told me. I’m so glad to hear that you had a good time with your family, I mean you already know that of course, I- Well, just. Tell me. Anything new?” Albus watched as Scorpius cut himself off, waving a hand on front of himself in the usual way he did when he realised that he was rambling on a bit. Sometimes Albus wished he wouldn’t stop himself, he found that he quite enjoyed Scorpius’ nonsense talks.

“I missed you,” he said simply as the train departed, and watched as Scorpius stopped any fidgeting to stare at Albus. His wide-eyed look quickly turned into a warm smile that made Albus’ palms sweaty and mouth dry.

“I missed you too.” He watched Scorpius reply to him. Unable to stop himself, not wanting to even, he lept forwards to throw himself into Scorpius’ arms, which had quickly moved up to hold on to Albus’ body as it suddenly made impact.

“Oof, Albus!” he heard Scorpius yelp, but made no attempt to free himself from the embrace. “I thought we didn’t hug.” Albus heard Scorpius murmur, amusement lacing his tone.

“I’m pretty sure the fact that we’ve had each other’s dicks in our hands means that that no longer applies,” Albus replied, thinking back to the times they had woken up in the same bed, curled around each other, and flushed hotly. He pulled away to sit next to the blond and gave him a sheepish look. “We could… _you know_. If you wanted to.”

Scorpius flushed. “Oh… _Oh_.” Albus watched as his grey eyes flickered between Albus’ face and the compartment door. Sensing the reason behind Scorpius’ nerves, Albus quickly stood to lock the door, pulling the blinds down to give them their privacy.

He went to turn around so that he could face Scorpius again, take his seat next to him in their compartment, but before he could he felt two hands grip his hips and spin him around, steadying him when he was facing the right way. He was about to move, sit down so that he could see Scorpius face-to-face, but the hands had attached themselves to his hips again. Albus looked down at Scorpius, who looked like his was having to gather all the courage in the world.

“Scorp…?” he mumbled, but before he could continue he felt Scorpius’ hands move to his crotch, where they began unbuttoning Albus’ trouser.

_‘Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck’_ Albus thought to himself, reaching down to help Scorpius out by tugging his trousers and underwear down in one yank. He also quickly stripped off the zipper hoodie he was wearing, throwing down on the seat for him to sit on, but when he moved to take his place, Scorpius had raised his arms to Albus’ side, holding tight.

“Uh, the position will probably be better if I’m sitting down mate,” he pointed out, and watched as Scorpius shook his head, lips pressed together tightly into a pale, tense line.

“N-no, I don’t-... I mean I…” Scorpius started stutter out. “I was just wondering if maybe I could… If you’re okay with it that is! I was thinking that I c-could… suck you off…?” Scorpius’ words were so quiet by the end he was basically whispering, but Albus had absolutely no problem hearing what his best friend, his crush, Scorpius, had just uttered.

_‘Well that explains why he’s been so determined to keep my dick in front of his face this whole time,’_ a tiny, amused part of Albus’ brain chose to chime in.

Scorpius’ head tilted back to stare up at Albus, eyes wide and anxious. “I don't… have to. If you don’t want me to, I mean. We never need to do anything you don’t want to,” he said, and Albus wondered just how long he’d been silent for that Scorpius had felt the need to offer a thoughtful but unneeded alternative.

“No! No, I-” Albus inhaled and exhaled sharply, trying to gather his words to make an actual, human sentence. “I’d be okay with that, if that’s what you wanted to do,” he murmured. The resulting silence was making Albus nervous, wondering what he might’ve said that caused it. Luckily, it didn’t last for longer than a few moments.

“Okay then,” he heard Scorpius whisper, but it seemed more like he was talking to himself rather than anyone else. Albus was about to speak, offer something that might help the situation (Position change? Less clothing? He wasn’t sure, he’d never been in this type of situation before) when he felt, rather than saw, Scorpius’ hand take a hold of Albus’ cock in a way that was so wonderfully familiar. Except now, Albus knew more was coming, and the thought had his toes curling.

“Just, well. Just be aware that I haven’t really done this before and, as a consequence, I may not be the greatest at it. I mean I’ve looked into it -of course I have- but there’s a difference between theory and practical, as you know, and-”

“Scorpius, I really don’t mean, _ah_ , to rush you or anything, but I’m pretty sure that…” Albus inhaled sharply, his voice wavering. “I think I’m going to come before you actually start… it, so if you could-”

“Oh!” Scorpius said with realisation, looking up at Albus, who felt like his face was burning with fierce intensity. “Right, yes, I’ll…” Albus heard Scorpius trail off as he raised his arms to brace against the wall of the compartment, weird bumpy wallpaper tickling Albus’ palm whilst he kept his eyes clenched shut. He would’ve thought Scorpius had backed out and decided to just jerk him off instead (which he would be absolutely okay with, obviously) until he felt hot puffs of breath over his erection, followed by slick, wet heat enveloping the tip.

Albus made a startled choking noise, hands tightening into fists, nails biting into his palm. He squeezed his eyes shut while his mouth hung open, loudly inhaling and exhaling in an attempt to not completely pass out at the feeling of Scorpius trying to take him further into his mouth and light sucking motions.

“Scor- _fuck_ , I-” he stuttered out. “You’re so, _fu-uk_ , amazing, _ah!_ ”

Albus’ head hung down as he panted, chest rising and falling with each bob of Scorpius’ head, hair damp with sweat. His arms were shaking as he had them tensed between himself and the back wall, and in an impulsive, instinctual motion, he used one to reach down and cup the back of Scorpius’ head, the beads of his bracelet shifting. He’d been wearing that bracelet almost twenty four seven. He felt Scorpius freeze for a millisecond, a slight stutter in his motions, but he was quick to recover, and even quicker to go with the ever-so-light pressure of Albus’ hand. He had no intention of forcing Scorpius to take more or to work harder than he could. Instead, he gently pushed and pulled the slightest amount, just to help Scorpius keep a rhythm.

“I think I’m- _shit, fucking hell,_ ” Albus gasped. “I’mgonnacomeI’mgonnacomeI’mgon-” Albus cut himself off with a gasp and a shudder, entire body tensing so hard it was almost painful. He felt Scorpius pull his mouth away and felt his cum shoot up and stick to his shirt, wave after wave hitting Albus as he raised his hand back up, away from Scorpius’ head to plant it back against the wall of the compartment.

When he finally opened his eyes a few moments later, he looked down to see that there was a white sticky substance over Scorpius’ shirt and neck too, well as spattered on the floor by their feet.

“Shit!” Albus hissed, working through his jelly-like numbness to reach down grab his wand from his discarded trouser pocket. He was quick to pull it out, waving in around with a quick ‘scourgify’, before he took the opportunity of being half-naked to start changing into his Hogwarts robes. When he turned around, in the middle of tucking his shirt into his trousers, he caught Scorpius’ fond gaze. His lips were actually still bright pink and slightly puffy, and Albus couldn’t decide whether it was appropriate to stare at them.

“What?” he asked with a self-conscious half smile as he did his trousers up firmly.

“Nothing,” Scorpius said simply, shaking his head while his sunburn was intensified by a lovely blush. “Just… You look good, is all.”

Albus felt his face heat as well as he grinned, running his hand through his hair before he moved to grab his cloak and sit next to Scorpius. “So do you,” he murmured back, unsure if he wanted such a delicate admission to be spoken too loudly, worried that anything too sudden or too obtrusive would be unwelcome in that situation. He watched as Scorpius bit his bottom lip for a moment, before licking it and smiling. When he finally raised his gaze to meet Scorpius’ own eyes, he noticed that he hadn’t been the only one staring.

He wanted to say more, to spill everything about the importance of that winter break, but he kept himself quiet so that the only sound they could hear was each other’s breathing and the clickety-clacks of the train taking them back to Hogwarts.

 

\---

 

Albus had wondered if the event that had happened on the Hogwarts Express was going to begin occurring frequently. He had thought that they could start exchanging blowjobs too, and even tried to take initiative a few times, only to be stopped by Scorpius, who shook his head and said that he didn’t want that. Instead, it seemed like it was just a one-time, spur of the moment thing, as they resorted back to quick jerk-off sessions in an alcove, or long, limb-tingling handjobs under the cover of night, long after they knew their roommates had gone to sleep, a silencing charm thrown up just in case. Albus wasn’t complaining about it, but he knew with absolute certainty that something was different, something had changed. It wasn’t that the handjobs felt bad in comparison, or in any way less, but the mood of them had changed. It was like some kind of wall or boundary had been built between them, like the blowjob had been this forbidden line that they had crossed without even knowing it existed, and now they couldn’t go back.

“ _Albus…_ ” Scorpius moaned one night into his collar, hands tugging at Albus’ clothes whilst Albus tossed him off in quick, solid jerks. Albus leaned forwards to press his foreword against Scorpius’, his other hand massaging his own crotch in time with the one currently on Scorpius, panting lightly and staring at Scorpius’ face.

“I- _Merlin_ , are you to-ouching yourself?” Scorpius choked out in a whispered, barely able to speak clearly through the groans that Albus kept pulling from him. Albus only nodded in response as he shuffled closer.

“Al… _Albus_ , I-” Scorpius moaned, opening his eyes to meet Albus’.

“I-” Scorpius started, but Albus didn’t need him to say anything more because he’d been in this situation countless times over the past his months. He could feel his own orgasm building, creeping up his legs, tingling and tensing in his stomach as he watched Scorpius’ face scrunch up, mouth wide and panting. He was quick to join him, unable to give Scorpius the courtesy of waiting for him to be done before he joined him in relief. The two boys writhed, hair messy and bent so close together than they could feel each other’s heated breaths on their lips, in their mouths.

As his climax began to pass, Albus opened his eyes again to see Scorpius staring at him, gaze so intense Albus felt like he would light on fire with the purposefulness of it.

“Scorp…” he whispered out, voice croaky. He saw Scorpius shift closer still, before he closed his eye.

He didn’t know what to expect of the kiss he and Scorpius exchanged, if it could be called a kiss at all. It was more like a loose pressing of lips on lips, their bodies too numb and weightless to want anything more intense. Albus tilted his head just slightly, just enough that he could trap Scorpius’ top lip between his, shifting to press their mouths closer in something sweet and delicate, much too innocent for what the context of the kiss happened to be.

“Albus,” Scorpius mumbled against his mouth, and Albus felt Scorpius’ hands move to cup the side of his jaw for just a moment before they separated, leaving his fingers to trial down the side of Albus’ neck. Neither boys opened their eyes as Albus felt Scorpius’ nose pressed against this cheek, the two of them settling close. Neither of them felt any need to shift or pull away the way they might have in the past, every bit aware that their proximity to the other person was a direct correlation to how pleasant their slumber would be.

They both knew the morning would be different, but whether different was going to be a positive result or not, they had yet to find out.

 

\---

 

Albus was awoken by the sound of Zabini and Bamford laughing and shoving each other as they left the dorm room. He would’ve liked to have been awoken by something more pleasant, maybe something similar to what had occured last night, but considering that other than him the bed was empty, that was obviously impossible. He would’ve been hurt or jumped to some ridiculous conclusion like he normally did, if it weren’t for the rushed-looking note that had been slipped under his cheek.

_“Albus,_

_If you’re reading this then I’m just in the shower, I promise! ~~If you’re still asleep by the time I get out I’ll make sure to wake you up~~ Sorry that was a stupid thing to write :P_

_Scorpius”_

A part of Albus really wondered how Scorpius was even able to make his quick notes look like elegant scripture, but a larger and much louder part of him was just hungry, and seriously craving some raspberry jam.

 

\---

 

_“Ahaha, but it’s just so much more impressive when you do it Karl!”_

_“Oh yes, absolutely! Honestly, you’re so talented~”_

Albus felt like he could vomit all over his toast as he listen to the fawning and swooning of Karl’s usual fans. Honestly, did they not have any self-respect?

“Hi.”

Albus quickly raised his head to see Scorpius shuffling into the seat across from Albus, keeping his eye downturned and jaw visibly clenched.

“Hey,” Albus responded. “Good shower?”

Scorpius grabbed a peach from a nearby bowl and began to turn it over in his hands. “Yes, although I’m surprised you care,” he said shortly.

Albus frowned at the out-of-character bluntness, minor panic rising at the thought of fighting with Scorpius. “It’s just small talk mate, no need to get huffy over it.”

“I’m not _huffy,_ ” Scorpius emphasized. A few seconds passed of Albus staring in confusion and Scorpius fiddling with the fuzzy skin of the fruit in his palms. Finally, Scorpius sighed. “You left without me.”

“What?”

“For breakfast. You left the bed- the dorm and came to breakfast without me. Without telling me.”

“Wait, you’re mad at that? What are you on? Since when do we wait?”

“I’m not annoyed that you came to breakfast, I’m annoyed-!” Scorpius cut himself off with a huff, firmly placing the peach down on the table in front of him.

“At what? What are you annoyed at?”

Albus watched as Scorpius sat still for a few minutes, silently staring in his lap, clearly lost in thought about something that Albus desperately wanted to know about. Albus could hear the usual meal time sounds around him, but it all felt like it was going on through a thick glass wall, like it wasn’t even relevant to him when he had something else he needed to focus on.

Finally, Scorpius shook himself out of it. “It’s nothing,” he responded quietly.

Albus watched as he picked up the fruit again and took a small bite from it, confusion treading his every nerve. “What do you mean it’s nothing? If something’s wrong then I want to help you, I don’t want us to-” Scorpius held up his other hand to bring a pause to Albus’ words.

“I mean it, it’s really nothing. I just jumped to some idiotic conclusions, I suppose, but I promise you, it’s all okay. Really.” Scorpius smile had just a tinge of sadness to it, and it made Albus want to cry in his place if only to make Scorpius feel better.

“...Are you sure? I mean it, mate. If there’s something wrong, something that I did then I promise you I will find a wa-”

“Yes, Albus. I’m sure.” He watched as Scorpius shook his head a bit, closed his eyes and, luckily had a smile that was slightly more genuine when it returned.

Albus stayed quiet, a silence that stayed between the two of them for a while more. They ignored the people around them like they always did, numb to the sounds of yelling and laughter, the clinking of goblet and crockery against plates.

_“You really do look good today Karl~”_

Albus couldn’t stop his groan at the return of such a disgustingly flirty tone being direction at someone so undeserving. He turned to look at the spectacle and, instantly regretting it, turned back to see Scorpius staring at him. He stopped stirring his coffee for a moment as he returned the gaze.

“You’re still after that, then?” Scorpius asked, voice hushed and face blank.

Albus shrugged. “I mean, yeah of course I am.” _‘With you’_ , he added mentally.

Scorpius swallowed bitterly and nodded. “I see.”

“I mean,” Albus continued, “isn’t everyone at this point?”

“What? Wanting girls to fawn over them?”

Albus laughed lightly. “No you idiot. I mean, isn’t everyone looking for someone that they can adore like that, and be adored in return? Not that that display right there doesn’t make me gag, ‘course it does, Sally shouldn’t be putting herself through that,” he added.

“‘Sally’?” Scorpius asked.

“Her, the girl that won’t stop following that bastard around.”

Scorpius laughed ruefully. “I suppose you’d rather have her follow you around then?”

Albus hated how raw Scorpius’ voice was sounded, and was quick to turn back to him, leaning forwards. “Are you sure you’re okay Scorp?” he inquired again. He’d expected to get the usual nod and wave he’d gotten before, Scorpius never one to want to trouble others, but was surprised to see Scorpius shoot up in his seat, standing in his place and bumping the table as he did.

“Actually I think I should leave.”

Albus half stood up as well, reaching over to steady a plate that had slid near the edge of the table and shooting a dirty look at the nearby second year who had thought it appropriate to yell an ‘oi’ at Scorpius. “Maybe I should come with you, if you really aren’t well then I’ll get you to Madam Pom-”

“No! No, i’ll be okay. I think I just need to lie down. Yes, that’s it. I’ll have a quick nap and be better by third period!” Scorpius said, his cheery tone so manufactured it was hurting Albus’ ears, smile not even a smile, more of an incredibly painful grimace.

“I don’t know if-”

“I’ll see you later in potions Albus!”

Albus wanted to call out Scorpius, grab him as he clumsily clambered back over to the other side of the bench. He watched with a raised hand as Scorpius’ foot caught on the edge, and he almost took a fall into the concrete floor before he swooped himself back up again. Albus almost expected him to turn with another one of his fake smiles to somehow reassure Albus that he was okay, but he didn’t even do that, instead striding so fast out of the Great Hall that Albus couldn’t have gathered his bag fast enough to catch up to him before he left, no matter how hard he tried.

 

\---

 

In the end, Scorpius didn’t turn up in potions class that afternoon. Instead, Albus got partnered up with Thea Jordan to make a few variations of the sleeping draught. It wasn’t too bad in all honesty, Albus found Thea to be a rather nice person to talk with, if not a bit intense sometimes, so it could’ve been a lot worse. He’d had to give an excuse to Professor Buxton to explain Scorpius’ absence, and gave a simple answer of ‘he had a migraine’. He’d witnessed Scorpius with a few of those in the past, so he didn’t think it counted as a complete lie, he’d just never specified how recently the migraine was occuring. Either way, he got no more questions and as such considered it a success, although Thea’s intense judge-y eyebrow was mildly unsettling.

As soon as the lessons were done for the day, Albus quickly began to make his way down to the dungeons. There weren’t too many people in the corridors since most people went outside or somewhere else to socialise in between classes and dinner, and even in the common room there were only a few groups lingering around. He didn’t even spare them a glance as he climbed the stairs, two at a time, to reach the dorm room he and Scorpius resided inside. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, something he had lost in the panicking rush he’d felt on his way to the dormitory, before he pushed open the door and shut it solidly behind himself. Luckily, there weren’t any of their roommates around to make the situation more awkward than it needed to be.

“Scorpius…?” he whispered as he stepped closer to the blond’s bed curtains. When he was close enough and began pulling them open, he heard a rustling from behind him and spun on his heel to see Scorpius poking his head out of a bed that definitely didn’t belong to him. It belonged to Albus.

Rather than ask him about something that had little to no relevance on the situation, Albus just stepped closer to him and knelt down on the floor, next to where Scorpius had open the bed hangings. “Hey, you didn’t turn up in potions today.”

Scorpius rubbed at his eyes, but it didn’t seem like he was that caught up in sleepiness, because Albus knew a sleepy Scorpius, and it was way more out of it than this.

“What time is it?” he asked quietly.

“A little past four, classes just ended for the day.”

Albus watched as Scorpius nodded calmly. Albus had sort of wished that Scorpius would give one of usual overreactions to missing class where he jumped up in a panic, but clearly something was stopping him from being his usual self.

Albus stood up and moved closer until he could take a hold of his bed curtains, turning down to look at Scorpius before he slipped inside them. It felt a little odd, having to ask permission to enter his own bed chambers, but then again this entire situation was a little odd so he supposed it fit in it’s own way.

“What’s wrong Scorpius?” he asked plainly as soon as he had situated himself inside. He could now see that Scorpius hadn’t even bothered to fully undress before climbing into Albus’ bed, as at the very least he still had his uniform shirt on (though it was incredibly rumpled).

Albus watched as Scorpius opened his mouth incrementally, before shutting it again and sighing, and staring down at his fingers that were playing with Albus’ duvet cover. Albus desperately wanted to reach out and take his pale hands in his own, but he was very much aware of how inappropriate that would be in that moment.

“Look, I’m sure whatever it is, that it’ll end up okay. You can talk to me about whatever it is, or maybe Madam Pomfrey knows someone you can speak-”

“I don't-!” Albus was taken aback by Scorpius’ sudden interruption. “I don’t want to speak to anyone about this, it’s not a big deal. It’s just… stupid. _I’m_ stupid. I thought…” Albus leaned forward as Scorpius trailed off.

“You thought… what?” he asked, but Scorpius didn’t reply, only shook his head and avoided Albus’ gaze.

It was silent for a few moments, Albus unsure of what to say, before Scorpius broke it.

“Do you like her?”

Albus’ face crinkled in confusion. “What? Like who?”

“Sally. That girl who follows Karl around. You were staring at her this morning, you’re always so annoyed when you hear about her being so public with her crush of him.”

“Wha- You think I have a crush on _Sally_? Because of-” Albus stopped and sighed. “No, believe me I do not have a crush on her. She’s… not my type, I guess.”

_‘She’s nothing like you’_ he couldn’t help thinking.

“I’m just annoyed at how her and those other girls don’t give a damn about how much of a dick Jenkins is. You shouldn’t just like someone because you’re attracted to them, y’know? You’ve gotta like all of them.”

“Yeah, I know.” He heard Scorpius sigh, and watched as he seemed to sink in on himself. “But you want someone like her, right? To be in a relationship with?”

Albus barked out a sudden laugh that took Scorpius aback. “Are you kidding? No way! I mean, she’s probably a nice girl and all that, but she’s not exactly my type.” Albus shook his head, rubbing at his eyes as he thought about the irony of the situation he was in.

“Oh…” Scorpius whispered, shifting his legs under him until he was sitting cross-legged in the bed. In Albus’ bed.

Another few moments passed by where neither of them spoke the word. It wasn’t exactly awkward, but there was still an odd tension in the air that Albus was desperate to dispel.

“Are you going to tell me what’s been going on with you all day? Because while I’m pretty sure Professor Buxton is fine with excuses once in a while, I’d really appreciate the truth right about now.”

Scorpius’ face tensed, his lips drooping into the kind of frown you only got when you were trying your best not to cry. Internally, Albus started to panic. He never, never wanted Scorpius to cry, especially because of him, but he needed to press where it was hurting to see how he could make it better.

“I already t-told you, I was stupid, and I made some presumptions I shouldn’t have. It was all my own fault, I promise. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Albus hated how shaky and weak Scorpius’ voice was as he explained himself, and if it weren’t for the fact that Albus could tell there was more to it, he would have just left it there.

“What presumptions? What’s going on in that super-sized brain of yours?” Scorpius showed the tiniest grin at Albus’ words, and he could swear that he had never felt his heart sing so loudly at being able to make this boy smile. He wished it had lasted more than a second, and not quickly down-turned into a tense line to match his furrowed brow.

“Please don’t hate me.”

Albus leant forwards at Scorpius’ squeaky answer. “I promise, Scorp. I could never hate you.”

“...I just thought,” Albus watched Scorpius ruffle his already-fluffy hair. “I thought that you would still be in bed this morning okay? I thought I would be able to come back to bed, and we could cuddle some more. Or, something. That’s why I left the note, so that you wouldn’t have to leave to go searching for me.” Scorpius sighed and tilted his head to the side in admittance.

Despite the desperate questions that were crawling around inside Albus’ chest, he only asked “And at breakfast?”

For a second he thought he wouldn’t get any response when he saw Scorpius tilt his head back to stare at the ceiling. Luckily that didn’t end up being the case. “I… didn’t like how much you cared about Sally liking Karl. I know now, obviously, that was me being presumptuous again, but apparently that’s something I’m very good at, so.” Scorpius shrugged his shoulders self deprecating.

“Why does that even matter to you? It’s not like me dating someone would ever stop us from being close.”

“Because _I like you_ , Albus!”

Albus froze at the words, and he felt a beat pass between them. _Scorpius_ liked him. Scorpius _liked_ him.

“And I just… Well, I thought after last night, after t-that kiss, that you felt the same or something, I don’t know.” Scorpius shrugged his shoulders, face burning and eyes wet with tears. “I know that it was stupid thought to have, but yes, I thought you’d returned my feelings. That’s why I was so annoyed, because I thought you’d completely left me after such an… intimate night together.”

Albus watched as Scorpius sniffled and his throat clenched, and _Merlin_ , was he dreaming or something?

“I’m… sorry, I’m _so sorry_ , I never meant to let anything like this happen. I… You’re wonderful, I think you’re so absolutely wonderful and so…” Scorpius sighed. “So genuinely good, with such amazing intentions behind everything you do. You care so much about everyone, even when you’re pretending to not care at all, and I’ve been lucky enough to watch you grow as a person in incredible ways, _especially_ over the last few years so I just can’t help but… love you.”

Albus stared, mouth hanging open as Scorpius fumbled over his feelings, heart pounding away so fast he began to wonder if he was too young to have a heart attack.

“Scorp,” he choked out, feelings raw and intense as they adjusted to this new information. “I really… Well, I-”

A sudden rowdy noise entered the dormitory, and Albus almost screamed in frustration. He quickly shut his mouth, and watched as Scorpius pressed his palm over own mouth to prevent himself from making too much noise. Albus hadn’t thought a silencing charm was necessary when he had first climbed into the bed chambers, since there wasn't anyone else in the room, and even if there was, he had doubted they were going to do anything raunchy when the tensions were so high. He certainly hadn’t expected it to escalate in _this_ way.

Albus listened to the boys that had entered the room in a loud and sudden appearance, heart pounding in his chest when he realised that they were just loud enough, and just self-absorbed enough for it to work out okay.

He leant forwards, rested in his palm on the bedding in front of him to get closer to Scorpius, who was giving him an odd, accusing look.

“Scorp…” he whispered, so quietly it could barely be counted as a whisper at all. “I love you, _too_.”

Albus watched as Scorpius was suddenly taken aback, face wide and eyes filling with tears so rapidly it was like Albus was watching his worst nightmare play out and _oh shit_ was that the wrong thing to say? He’d just wanted to be honest!

Scorpius stared for a moment before leaning back with a shake of his head, moving suddenly and causing the frame of Albus’ bed to creak loud enough to get the other boys’ attention.

“...Potter?” He heard Zabini’s voice call. “That you?”

Albus winced and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Yeah, it’s me!” he called out, holding a hand up in a silencing gesture in front of Scorpius. “I’m not feeling great so I came to lie down for a bit.” He winced at his own lie.

“Oh, sorry mate, we’ll get out of here, Jordan just wanted to-”

“Yeah, thanks a lot!” Albus interrupted, determined to get the other guys out as soon as possible now that he could see a way that he could. He listened as some rustle sounded and the two boys murmured something to each other.

“Hey, one last thing; where’s Malfoy? I thought he was sick too, migraine right?”

Albus’ eyes went wide for a second when he remembered that, oh yeah, he had left Scorpius’ bed curtains wide open for anyone to see that he was definitely _not_ asleep there. Albus’ eyes darted around quickly, trying to think, when Scorpius waved a hand in front of his face to grab his attention. When he looked at him, Albus saw him pointing upwards, before he began miming something like… stroking a cat? Or was it… Oh!

“He’s gone to Madam Pomfrey!” he yelled, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, grinning when he saw Scorpius give him a double thumbs up. He listened as Zabini replied with an ‘okay’ in an odd tone that clearly depicted just how weird he still thought Albus was, but that didn't matter. All that matter was that they got out, _now_.

Albus listened to the door as it slid shut, and had never been to fast to grab his wand from it’s holder and cast an incredibly speedy silencing charm around the bed. Once he had, he looked back at Scorpius to see him staring back at him, just like he always seemed to be.

_‘I’m such an idiot’_ , Albus thought, absentmindedly.

“Do you… Did you-”

Albus cut Scorpius off with a quick shuffle forwards and a nod. “I do, I really do. I love you, Scorpius. Like, a lot.” Albus grinned sheepishly, reaching up to rub at the back of his head in embarrassment. He watched as Scorpius slowly began to smile, which quickly turned into a blinding and purely joyful grin. He heard the giggles that Scorpius always made when he was in a nervous situation, or one where he struggled to contain his emotions, and couldn’t help himself from joining in.

“Come here,” Scorpius said eventually, hand motioning for Albus to come closer. Albus gave him a suspicious look, but did as he was told, only for Scorpius to roll his eyes so hard Albus was surprised he didn’t hurt himself.

“ _Closer_ , Albus.”

When the boys were finally sitting close enough that their knees were pressed firmly together, Albus watched as Scorpius raised his hands and placed his firmly, if a little hesitantly, on Albus’ collar. They were still shaking.

“I really love you,” Scorpius murmured quietly, the moment staying private and between the two of them, only them, in the silence.

Albus swallowed, unable to prevent the grin that was splitting his face in two and he reached up the cup Scorpius’ hands against his chest. “I really love you too Scorpius.” He pulled one of Scorpius’ hands away from him, and quickly turned it over so it was palm-down. Without a moment's hesitation, he ducked his head to give it a kiss, firm and quick, on the back of it. He could hear Scorpius’ breath stutter.

“So, so much,” he whispered into it, before Scorpius used his other hand to raise Albus’ head with a nudge at his chin. He caught sight of Scorpius’ flushed face, alight with pure and unadulterated happiness, but in the next moment he was catching the ginormous hug that Scorpius gave, with a hefty throw of his body.

“ _So much_ ,” Scorpius repeated back to him, and tilted his head to catch Albus’ lips in the world’s best and sweetest kiss.

 

\---

 

_“Everyone off the train, I mean it!”_

Scorpius and Albus didn’t bother waiting for the rest of the students to start crowding up the exits. Instead, they had kept a watchful eye out for the platform, and had begun grabbing their things as soon as it came into sight.

“You ready?” Scorpius asked as the doors all swung open at once, Albus’ palm pressed tightly against his whilst they began to clamber on to the platform.

“I suppose so,” Albus replied sarcastically with a great, put-upon sigh, which quickly changed into a grin that matched Scorpius’ own when he caught his eye. “We already told them about us, you remember that right? In the letters we wrote?”

That, Scorpius did remember. They had both stayed up half the night, not unusual at all for them, but rather than partaking in some wonderfully pleasurable activities, they had spent the time both trying to craft the perfect letters to their parents. Albus’ ended up being rather short and sweet, a purely happy message to give his mum and dad the update, but Scorpius’ had ended up being quite a bit longer. It was nothing bad, Scorpius had insisted, but apparently there were some thing he needed to say that just couldn’t wait.

“Exactly, this is the first time we’ll be seeing them since we told them about us.” Scorpius shrugged. “It’s a good thing you’re so confident though.”

Albus grinned and stepped closer to press their shoulders together tightly, before they moved to the giant mass of red and/or messy hair (a blonde ponytail standing out against them).

“Albus!” he heard his mum yell, and was quick to run forwards to gather her and his dad in a great hug. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Scorpius and his father doing to same.

“How are you, sweetheart? Oh my, have you grown taller, _again_?” Albus just laughed at his mum’s words, before he caught sight of James standing just behind them and weaved between family members to get to him. Albus tackled him, wrapping his arms around James’ torso and feeling James return the hug just as tightly.

“Well done baby bro,” he heard him whisper in his ear, before he separated to see James grinning and wiggling his eyebrows back at him. Albus rolled his eyes and shoved him away, before he turned again to see Scorpius watching him, his dad holding one of his trunks.

Albus stepped closer until he was almost nose-to-nose with Scorpius, and paused for a moment before he gave in, sinking into Scorpius’ arms with a heavy sigh.

“You’ll write to me?” he asked, as if nothing had changed.

“You’ll be seeing me in week,” Scorpius responded, as if Albus could ever forget the fact that Scorpius was once again coming to stay with the Potters for a short while.

Albus grinned as their hug began swaying. He decided to ignore the call of ‘get a room!’ from James, making a note to kick him in the knee on the way home.

“I know that, dummy,” he sighed into Scorpius’ cheek. “But still, write to me.”

He felt rather than heard Scorpius’ chuckle. Slowly, the two of them began to separate, and Albus was pleasantly surprised to feel the lightest brush of lips against his jaw as they did, followed by Scorpius’ amused whisper in reply.

“As soon as I get home.”

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of the 2018 HP Next Gen Fest. The creator will be revealed on November 30.
> 
> EDIT: FIND ME ON TUMBLR UNDER HUGGINGSCORBUS YOU GUYS!!


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